--- title: John Kasich Won't Run as a Third-Party Candidate description: John Kasich said Monday he has no plans to run as a third-party candidate, putting an end to speculation that he would re-enter the race canonical: https://time.com/4338009/john-kasich-third-party-republican/ author: Charlotte Alter article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-16T22:27:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:35:18.383Z article:section: Politics og:title: John Kasich Says He Won't Run As a Third-Party Candidate og:description: Running as an independent would be "silly," he said og:url: https://time.com/4338009/john-kasich-third-party-republican/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb418d65ea69cbb73/698893668e0601e297465e69/gettyimages-528271098.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Kasich Announces End Of His Presidential Campaign og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Kasich Says He Won't Run As a Third-Party Candidate twitter:description: Running as an independent would be "silly," he said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb418d65ea69cbb73/698893668e0601e297465e69/gettyimages-528271098.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # John Kasich Says He Won't Run As a Third-Party Candidate  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 16, 2016 10:27 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks to the media announcing he is suspending his campaign May 4, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. (J.D. Pooley--Getty Images) Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks to the media announcing he is suspending his campaign May 4, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. (J.D. Pooley--Getty Images)J.D. Pooley—Getty Images  by [Charlotte Alter](https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Senior Correspondent May 16, 2016 10:27 PM UTC John Kasich said [Monday he has no plans](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/politics/john-kasich-third-party-interview-anderson-cooper/index.html) to run as a third-party candidate, putting an end to speculation that the former Republican candidate would re-enter the race. In his first interview since dropping out of the race [May 4](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/04/politics/john-kasich-drops-out/), Kasich told [CNN’s Anderson Cooper](http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/politics/john-kasich-third-party-interview-anderson-cooper/index.html) that he has no interest in running again for the presidency. “I’m not gonna do that,” the Ohio governor said. “I gave it my best where I am. I just think running third-party doesn’t feel right. I think it’s not constructive.” The governor acknowledged that he had been asked to mount a third-party run after Donald Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, but declined. “A third-party candidacy would be viewed as kind of a silly thing,” he said. “And I don’t think it’s appropriate. I just don’t think it would be the right thing to do.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4338009/john-kasich-third-party-republican/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4338009/john-kasich-third-party-republican/"},"headline":"John Kasich Says He Won't Run As a Third-Party Candidate","datePublished":"2016-05-16T22:27:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:35:18.383Z","description":"Running as an independent would be \"silly,\" he said","url":"https://time.com/4338009/john-kasich-third-party-republican/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Election 2016","Donald Trump","john kasich"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb418d65ea69cbb73/698893668e0601e297465e69/gettyimages-528271098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb418d65ea69cbb73/698893668e0601e297465e69/gettyimages-528271098.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Kasich Announces End Of His Presidential Campaign","caption":"John Kasich Announces End Of His Presidential Campaign","creditText":"J.D. 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