Ohio Governor John Kasich said the 2017 election results should serve as a wakeup call for Republicans. Though no U.S. Senate or House seats were up for grabs in Tuesday's election, the GOP approach could have an impact on 2018.
"Last night, Republican Party? Too negative, too narrow, only concerned about their base and they just got smashed last night and so we should learn from this," Kasich said.
That being said, Kasich warned Democrat victories in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey should not be seen as a sign they've figured out their own mess.
"I don't think Democrats won big because everybody was in love with the Democrats. I think that this was a rejection of anger and narrowness inside the Republican party," he said.
Kasich pointed to his book "Two Paths," where he said parties and their candidates can either recognize problems and lift or recognize problems and play the blame game.
"When you play the blame game you may win a couple, but you're going to end up losing in the long run. So both the Republicans and the Democrats, I think they frankly have lost their way and we'll see how it all comes together and what it means for independents."
"I think the party has to look down and say who are we appealing to? If we're just appealing to a handful of people in our own base I think you don't win, you have to be broader than that."
Kasich appeared to issue a veiled warning to his own Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, who Kasich has endorsed to succeed him in Columbus. Taylor had said she would look at ending the Medicaid expansion in Ohio that Kasich worked so hard to put in place.
"The fact that we have candidates running who say I want to get rid of Medicaid expansion while at the same time up in Maine they passed it by initiative," Kasich said of the Tuesday vote. "Appeal to the large, lift everybody, that's what gets you to be successful in politics, not appealing just to some base of people, whether you're a Democrat or a Republican."
On the endorsement of Taylor, Kasich said he stands by her.
"Look she's my lieutenant governor, I believe there's some degree of loyalty here and I continue to support her."
