Former GOP governor lashes out at Colorado ballot ruling: ‘Pure partisan ridiculous stuff’

Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) dug into the Colorado Supreme Court’s disqualification of former President Trump from the state ballot, calling it “pure partisan ridiculous stuff.”

“I don’t need to lay out my bona fides as my opposition to Donald Trump. But this is just … pure partisan ridiculous stuff here,” Kasich said in an interview on MSNBC. “Look, you’ve got a partisan court — all Democrats. They barely could say that [Trump] should be disqualified.”

Colorado’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack should block him from being on the ballot, citing the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause. The justices pointed to the former president’s false claims of election fraud and rallying of supporters to go to the Capitol prior to the insurrection.

The court’s 4-3 ruling overturned a lower court argument that the office of the presidency does not fall under this clause, which states those who previously took oaths to support the Constitution cannot participate in a rebellion against it.

Kasich said he has concerns over the type of precedent the ruling could set for how courts in the future may determine election eligibility.

“I worry about the fact that … ‘You do this to me and then I do this to you,’ and this just goes on and on and on,” Kasich said. “I just think this case … is not going to hold up.”

“If it were to hold up, you tell me … what we’re looking at in terms of future decisions being made by partisan judges that tell somebody who should be on the ballot and who shouldn’t,” he continued. “And frankly, I know there’re probably a lot of Democrats excited about this, but I got news for them, or some advice for them: Why don’t you figure how to beat Trump? That would be the important decision.”

Kasich’s remarks echo those of several current and former GOP lawmakers and leaders who claim the ruling is an illegal attempt at election interference to prevent Trump from taking back the White House in 2024. Others are arguing Colorado’s ruling can be blamed on the makeup of the Centennial State’s high court, whose bench was entirely appointed by Democratic governors. Six of the seven justices have won retention elections, and a seventh will run to do so next year.

Kasich, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, has been a vocal critic of the former president and has urged the 2024 GOP presidential candidates to similarly disavow Trump in public.

Asked if Colorado’s ruling is “net positive” for Trump’s narrative, Kasich said, “I can tell you what these ‘Trumpets’ are going to say. They’re going to say, ‘You see, that deep state, they wont even let him compete. They wont even let him into the ballpark and be able to swing at a pitch,’ that’s what they’re going to say.”

“And [Trump’s] going to say it. He says, ‘The deep state is back at it again,'” Kasich continued, adding that the ruling gives the former president an opportunity to “vent more.”

Shortly after the ruling was issued Tuesday, Trump’s campaign sent out a fundraising email with the subject line “REMOVED FROM THE BALLOT” that encouraged supporters to donate to the former president’s 2024 White House bid.

Trump warned the Colorado ruling would allow other groups to challenge his eligibility to be on the ballot in the other 49 states and repeated his longtime claim that Democrats are attempting to rig the election against him, though President Biden and Democratic officials were not involved with the court’s ruling.

Trump’s campaign has already pledged to appeal Colorado’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority.