Kasich: 'I didn't leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me'

"I'm still a Republican. I didn't leave the Republican Party. The Republican Party left me," Kasich said on CNN's "State of the Union." "In my state we have balanced budgets, surplus, we're up half a million jobs and then people say, 'Well Kasich's not a conservative.' What does that mean?"

"Come home to where we basically live," the 2016 presidential candidate added. "We should care about people from top to bottom, not just those at the top, but everybody. I can bring that party back. That's what I'm going to do in one way or another."

Kasich hasn't ruled out a presidential run in 2020, saying that he's keeping his options open. And though he's been rumored to be pursuing an independent candidacy, he told CNN earlier this month that it was unlikely.

The governor also said Republicans face a tough fight in this year's midterm elections because of voters' distaste for President Donald Trump's "harsh language" and "division."

But he added that he has no idea what Democrats are for.

Kasich said he foresees "a big ocean of people in the middle who are up for grabs in November.

"These are people who are objective. These are people who are rational," Kasich said.