Top conservative Lindsey Graham wants Ohio Gov. John Kasich to drop out of the presidential race.
Graham, who previously supported Jeb Bush before Bush dropped out, now supports Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“John Kasich is the most electable Republican,” Graham said on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday.
“I don’t think he has a chance to win at the convention because it’s an outsider year.”
Graham said most delegates are looking for an outsider, and he appears to consider Cruz in that category.
“I love John Kasich, but if he stays in this race, or they don’t coordinate the efforts between Cruz and Kasich, we’re going to wind up giving the nomination to Trump,” he said.
“John, if I thought you could win, I'd be behind you, because you are the most electable candidate.”
But Kasich said on the same show, in a separate interview, that he believes he has a chance to be nominated the Republican candidate, predicting Trump will fall short of the necessary number of delegates thus forcing a convention.
And once that happens, Kasich said, delegates will go to Cleveland and consider which candidate has the best chance of winning the presidential nomination.
“We will go into Cleveland with momentum and then the delegates are going to consider two things: Number one, who can win in the fall—and I’m the only one that can, that’s what the polls indicate,” he said. “And number two, a really crazy consideration, like who could actually be president of the United States.”
Kasich also responded directly to calls from Graham and others.
“Nobody is calling me directly and asking me to drop out,” he said. “Wait a minute—why don’t they drop out? I’m the one who can win in the fall.”
