Kasich discusses parents’ death, healing power of faith in SC

by Bradford Richardson - 02/13/16 11:31 AM ET

Recounting the death of his parents at the hands of a drunk driver, Republican presidential hopeful John Kasich on Friday invoked the power of faith to bring healing in the midst of tragedy.

Speaking to a crowd in Orangeburg, S.C., Kasich recalled how his mother and father were forced to drive down a winding, narrow road at night, and as a boy he worried that they would not make it home safely.

{mosads}“But in 1987, I’m in Washington, D.C., and I get a phone call,” he said, according to the New York Times. “They didn’t come home one night. A drunk driver hit them and killed my father on site, and my mother died the next day.”

After the incident, Kasich said his “whole world was black,” but he also saw a “pinprick of light.”

“And then when you see that, you know you got to just take it one hour at a time,” he said.

“My parents didn’t die in vain, because I found the Lord, in a real way.”

Kasich said his newfound faith stemming from the accident informed his life as a public servant.

“That’s when you know you got to lean on something bigger than yourself, and I went through it, and I got to tell you: The Lord gave me the grace to fully recover and put me in a position to be aware of other people’s problems,” he said.

The invocation of his parents’ death on the campaign trail mirrors the release of a new ad in South Carolina in which Kasich relays the same message about faith and resilience.

Kasich tells the story of his parents’ death in the 30-second spot, entitled “Healing.”

“I discovered my purpose by discovering the Lord,” Kasich says in the ad.

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