John Kasich Wife, Family, Daughters, Height, Age, Bio, Religion, Gay

Quick Facts

Here is the story of one man – John Kasich who is all of an author, former television host and most notably an American Republican politician. Before then, he served as a representative from Ohio in the U.S House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001. He served 18 years on the House Armed Services Committee and another 6 years as chairman of the House Budget Committee.

He’s been considered one of America’s finest politicians, here’s more info about his bio, family, religion and other things that distinguish him from the rest of his peers.

Biography (Age, Religion)

John Richard Kasich Jr. (John Kasich) was born on the 13th of May 1952 and raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania as a son to Anne (née Vukovich) and John Kasich Sr. His father was of Czech descent while his mother was Croatian. The both of his parents were immigrants who worked as postal workers. They were devout Roman Catholics and encouraged their son in no small way to adhere to the faith. For a time after his high school education, John who is also a Roman Catholic considered becoming a priest but eventually went on to pursue a different career in politics.

John attended the public high school in his hometown before proceeding to study political science at Ohio State University, where he joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity. In his freshman year, he got concerned about the situation of things in America and had to write a letter requesting to meet then U.S President Richard Nixon. The letter got delivered to the White House by the University’s president Novice Fawcett, and in December 1970, he had a 20-minutes meeting with the president much to his delight. John Kasich graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, launching his career thereafter.

John Kasich In The U.S. House Of Representatives

John began working as a researcher with the Ohio Legislative Service Commission and between 1975-78 he was an administrative assistant to then-state Senator Buz Lukens. He ran for his first political office in 1978 against Democratic incumbent Robert O’Shaughnessy. John Kasich won the seat of the State Senator becoming the 2nd youngest person to do so at age 26. He ran for Congress in Ohio’s 12th congressional district defeating incumbent Democrat Congressman Bob Shamansky in the general election by a margin of 50%–47% and went on to retain the office 8 times winning with an improved 64% each time.

The “fiscal conservative republican” was in the House Armed Services Committee for 18 years shaping U.S defense policies. In 1993 John Kasich became a ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee. He became a Chairman of the House Budget Committee in 1995 and made vital contributions by introducing the welfare reform bill ‘Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act ‘ which was signed into law by then-President Clinton. He is also credited as the brain behind a balanced federal budget for the first time since 1969 – the Balanced Budget Act of 1997.

Presidential Ambition, Private Sector Involvement, And Later Political Activities

John Kasich had interest in becoming the U.S president and by 1999, he formed an exploratory committee to advance this ambition. However, it was nipped in the bud after he suffered a dearth of fundraising and by July 1999, he jettisoned the idea and endorsed then-governor of Texas .

He then went on to work as a host on Heartland with John Kasich on the Fox News Channel in addition to being a guest host of The O’Reilly Factor when  isn’t available and making appearances on Hannity & Colmes as well.

The former Republican Congressman served on the board of directors for several companies like Invacare Corp., Chicago-based Norvax Inc., and Lehman Brothers’ investment banking. During all these time, he was planning a comeback to politics and by 2010 it came to fruition when he was elected Governor of Ohio defeating incumbent Democrat Ohio Governor Ted Strickland. He repeated the same victory in 2014 defeating Democrat Ed FitzGerald. He again revived his presidential ambitions in 2016 and had as main contenders and . John Kasich, however, couldn’t get his acts rights and had to suspend his campaign on May 4, 2016.

Like most other U.S politicians, John has made contributions to the literary society putting forward 4 books which are: 1998 Courage is Contagious which made the New York Times bestseller list, 2006 Stand for Something: The Battle for America’s Soul, another New York Times bestseller published in 2010 and titled Every Other Monday, and his latest being Two Paths which was published in 2017.

Family – Wife, Daughters, Gay

John Kasich has been married twice, he was first married to Mary Lee Griffith and their marriage lasted from 1975 to 1980. They, however, had no child together. After their divorce, Griffith did not relent in supporting any of John’s political ambitions which is quite rare among ex-wives of American politicians.

The Republican governor who has a history of defeating incumbents got married to his current wife Karen Waldbling in March 1997. Their marriage has since then seen to the birth of twin daughters Emma and Reese.

Karen was born on December 26, 1963, in Upper Arlington, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus. She studied at Ohio State University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in communications. Her profile identified her as an American business executive as she was once the vice president of GSW Worldwide – a healthcare advertising agency which she, however, had to quit working at to care for her twin daughters when they were 2 years old.

John Kasich is obviously not gay as he was married and is still married to a woman. However, he has come to hold a lesser strict stand on the U.S gay rights issues. As a member of the House of Representatives, he once supported a ban on gay marriages in Ohio but changed his stance as the U.S gay rights gained more enlightenment especially during his 2016 presidential ambition.

Height

John Kasich stands at a height of 6 feet or 1.83 m.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.