Kasich lone presidential candidate planning Valley stop

YOUNGSTOWN — With less than a week before the primary in Ohio, the state’s governor, John Kasich, is the only presidential candidate with a planned campaign stop in the Mahoning Valley.

Kasich, who will be on a statewide bus tour in the days leading to Tuesday’s primary, will stop Sunday at the Spread Eagle Tavern and Inn. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the program will go from 6 to 7 p.m. in Hanoverton in Columbiana County, said Mark Munroe, Mahoning County Republican Party chairman and an alternate Kasich delegate. The Kasich campaign is calling the event a “town hall.”

The location is owned by Columbiana County Republican Chairman Dave Johnson and has been a popular stop for federal and state Republican candidates and officeholders.

“The campaign rally is part of a bus tour the governor is taking,” Munroe said. “I imagine turnout will be great.”

The last time Kasich stopped at the historic tavern was Nov. 1, 2011, in the days leading to the successful repeal vote of a bill he signed into law to restrict the bargaining rights of public employees.

There are no scheduled stops in the Valley as of late Tuesday for the three other Republicans and the two Democrats running for president.