John Kasich: D.C. Shouldn’t Have Congressional Representation Because Democrats Live There

GOP Presidential Candidate John Kasich Makes Campaign Stop At A New York City Deli
I seem to have gotten myself into a little pickle. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

John Kasich is a straight-talking, consensus-building unifier who is sick and tired of all the cynicism that’s infected our politics. Also, he thinks D.C. residents shouldn’t have congressional representation because too many of them are Democrats. But he reserves the right to flip-flop on that, if his position becomes too unpopular.

In an interview with the Washington Post editorial board, the Ohio governor and imaginary presidential contender was asked whether he still opposes D.C. statehood, as he did when he was in Congress. Right now residents of the 50 percent African-American city are subject to taxation without representation because some slave-owning aristocrats in the 19th century decided that would be a good idea. The Washington Post editorial board challenged Kasich to defend the fairness of this arrangement. He was not persuasive.

ARMARO:  You voted against statehood for D.C. when you were in Congress.

KASICH:  Yes.

ARMAO:  Is that still your position, and do you have–

KASICH:  Yes, I would it say probably is.

ARMAO:  What about voting rights in Congress, voting representatives?

KASICH:  Probably not. I don’t know. I’d have to, I mean, to me, that’s just, I just don’t see that we really need that, okay?  I don’t know. I don’t think so.

ARMAO:  But you realize though that people in D.C. pay taxes, go to war and they have no vote in Congress.

KASICH:  Yeah.

ARMAO:  How is that–

KASICHWell look, I am not – I don’t – I am not, because you know what, what it really gets down to if you want to be honest is because they know that’s just more votes in the Democratic Party.

If the people of D.C. want full voting rights, they’ll have to start voting right. Realizing that this line of argument didn’t sound very “unifying,” Kasich went on to say, “Maybe I’ll have to flip flop my position, okay? I don’t know. Let me look at it.”

Kasich: Dems in D.C. Should Stay Disenfranchised