Kasich: 'The people of our country changed me'

COLUMBUS – Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspended his presidential campaign Wednesday evening, leaving Donald Trump free to cruise to his presumptive GOP nomination unfettered.

“As I suspend my campaign today, I have renewed faith, deeper faith, that the Lord will show me the way forward and fulfill the purpose of my life,” he said.

Kasich as governor had a reputation as a bulldog, although one with an emotional side. On Wednesday, in front of a battery of television cameras, his eyes welled with tears as he talked about his experiences on the campaign trail. He highlighted the beauty of small towns in New Hampshire and snow in Michigan, and the people he had met.

“The people of our country changed me,” he said. “They changed me with the stories of their lives.”

They also overwhelmingly supported other candidates for the Republican nomination.

Trump's victory in Indiana Tuesday night all but sealed his hold GOP nomination, leading Texas Sen. Ted Cruz to drop out of the race. Kasich had long been mathematically eliminated from winning the GOP nomination, with critics saying he was playing a spoiler by staying in.

"It’s kind of inevitable," said ex-Rep. Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican and staunch Kasich supporter said Wednesday. "Trump will have the votes, and there’s nothing John can do about it."

And taking on Trump one-on-one would have required millions more in cash than Kasich has. His campaign's and his political action committee's coffers had dwindled to $1.2 million each by the end of March.

Still, Kasich had planned to continue his presidential bid as the lone and unlikely alternative to Trump's candidacy – even though he had won only his home state, had picked up only nine delegates since mid-March and trailed Trump by nearly 900 delegates.

On Tuesday night, Kasich was still resisting such calls, with his campaign aides insisting the governor was barreling ahead. His schedule included a "full day" of fundraisers in the Washington area on Wednesday. The campaign even tweeted out an homage to Star Wars on Wednesday morning, suggesting Kasich was the only hope to defeat Trump and prevent a Clinton presidency.

But the pressure to drop out ratcheted quickly. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted Tuesday night he considered Trump the "presumptive nominee," indicating the party would rally behind the controversial billionaire in an attempt to beat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The possibility of quitting the GOP race has been on Kasich’s mind for at least a few days. Last week, he told an Oregon audience that he’d talked with his wife the previous day about whether to end his campaign. "I’ve decided to keep going,” he said, according to a New York Times report. “And there are going to be people who are going to criticize me for that. And it’s not always an easy road. I’m going to do my very best.”

Kasich had a full change of heart mid-morning on Wednesday, when he was scheduled to hold a press conference at Dulles Airport outside the nation's capital. Dozens of reporters milled around in the lobby of a private aviation terminal, waiting for Kasich to arrive. As the scheduled time came and went, rumors began swirling. The Ohio governor had not left Columbus and was discussing his future with advisers. Eventually, he got off his private plane and told advisers to plan his drop-out event.

Trump on Wednesday welcomed the news that Kasich would quit the race, saying the Ohio Republican was "doing the right thing" and suggesting he might consider Kasich as vice presidential contender, according to CNN.

"I think John will be very helpful with Ohio," Trump told CNN. Kasich has said he is not interested in the No. 2 spot on a Trump ticket but didn’t take any questions after he announced the suspension of his campaign.

Meanwhile, Kasich’s exit left his allies without a leader. Some stuck to praise. Loyal ally Sen. Rob Portman, who is locked in a own re-election battle, praised Kasich for a hard-fought campaign but said he would "support the Republican nominee." The Log Cabin Republicans, a group of LGBT party members and allies, went with a message of gratitude.

“Governor Kasich’s presidential pursuit in 2016 may be over, but he remains a man of integrity who leaves a legacy of changing the rhetoric around equality and marriage in Republican presidential politics,” the organization said in a statement.

The Ohio Republican Party must now steer its allegiance from Kasich to Trump. Matt Borges, the party chairman, said the new GOP voters who helped Kasich win the state’s delegates could prove crucial in putting Portman over the top in November’s election.

During Kasich's campaign, Borges, an adviser to the governor, warned Trump might struggle to win Ohio. As to his view on Trump’s chances now?

“A large part of our message was Governor Kasich’s ability to win a general election, and polling certainly demonstrated that John was in the best position to carry the critical swing state in the country,” he said. “I was pretty much wrong about every other prediction I made about Donald Trump, so I’m just not going to make any more predictions about him."

Meanwhile, Shays said that while Kasich's decision to drop out was unavoidable, he and others are still bitterly disappointed –- and nervous about Trump as the GOP nominee.

"John would have been a really fantastic president," Shays said. "And I think Donald Trump, if he does what he has promised ... will be disastrous. And if he doesn’t do what he promised, he will be a monumental con man. We lose both ways."

Kasich has long talked about how he would play golf after his campaign ended, although advisers pressed him to talk about how he’d continue to push forward on issues important to him and the country. In his statement Tuesday, Kasich laid his future plans in God’s hands as he performed his own autopsy on his campaign.

“The spirit, the essence of America, lies in the hearts and souls of us. You see, some missed this message. It wasn’t sexy. It wasn’t a great soundbite,” he said.

It also wasn’t a winning campaign message. Not this election season.