After taping an MSNBC town hall meeting in Howard Beach on Wednesday, Ohio Governor and Republican presidential hopeful John Kasich did what anyone else might have done: he went out for pizza.
Kasich visited Gino’s Pizzeria on Cross Bay Boulevard and enjoyed a slice with Queens County GOP Chairman and City Councilman Eric Ulrich, who represents the neighborhood and is one of only three Republicans in the City Council.
The candidate also got a chance to shake hands with diners — potential voters in New York’s presidential primary on April 19 — and even worked behind the counter for a bit, helping the owners serve slices to waiting customers.
Prior to his lunch stop, Kasich taped the MSNBC town hall meeting with Meet the Press anchor Chuck Todd at St. Helen’s Catholic Academy, which aired later on Wednesday night. Kasich currently trails billionaire celebrity Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in both the delegate count and polls, but told Todd and the audience he is a more viable candidate in the general election against Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Currently in his second term as Ohio’s governor, Kasich won his home state’s primary on March 15, taking all of its 67 delegates. Kasich and Cruz are hoping to deny Trump the 1,237 delegate majority needed to win the nomination outright prior to the Republican National Convention this summer in Cleveland.
If no candidate secures the majority once all primaries and caucuses have been held, the delegates themselves will choose the nominee on the convention floor.
Should Trump win the nomination before the convention, Kasich told Todd he doesn’t know whether he would endorse the controversial candidate, but also doubted Trump would be the nominee at all.
“Well, I don’t know what I’m going to do yet, and honestly, I don’t think he’s going to be the nominee and I’m going to tell you why,” Kasich said. “Because nobody’s going to have enough delegates to go to the convention. And, when we get to the convention people are going to think about two things, who can win in the fall, because he can’t. And, secondly, who could actually be a good president. I mean, that’s a crazy thing to think about, who could actually run the country.”
Check out this highlight reel below from MSNBC’s YouTube channel.
