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How the GOP's Rust Belt Governors Might Fix its 1% Problem

Four Midwestern governors are all considering bids for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, looking to run on success stories to revive the party’s Reagan Democrat coalition and speak to the middle class in a way Mitt Romney could not.

Gov. Scott Walker, a rabid Wisconsin Badgers fan, likes to razz Gov. John Kasich about his Ohio State Buckeyes.

 

“We’re hoping to be against each other in the Big 10 championship in a couple weeks,” he said during a panel discussion at the Republican Governors Association meeting here this week.

Forget football. A real battle of Midwest heavyweights might be looming next year in the Republican Party between Walker, Kasich, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder.

The four heartland governors are all considering bids for the GOP presidential nomination, looking to run as Rust Belt success stories who can revive the party’s Reagan Democrat coalition and speak to the middle class in a way Mitt Romney could not. And Republicans looking to shed the image as the party of the 1 percent say a Midwestern state executive who’s created jobs and balanced budgets might be just what the GOP needs.

But as the four men worked the crowd at this year’s RGA meeting, their differences were as apparent as their similarities. Each governor would bring his own blend of conservatism to the 2016 race.

 

Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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