LIVE John Kasich Philadelphia Pennsylvania Town Hall following big Ohio win - Republican presidential candidate John Kasich holds a town hall at Villanova University in Pennsylvania (3-16-16) Fresh off a primary win in his home state of Ohio, Gov. John Kasich will host a town hall event Wednesday afternoon at Villanova University. Kasich bested Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in Ohio on Tuesday, securing his first victory in the fight for the GOP's presidential nomination. But he badly trails Trump in delegates and could need a brokered convention to win the nomination. The town hall begins at noon at Villanova's Connelly Center. It is expected to last about 90 minutes. While Kasich enjoyed victory Tuesday in Ohio, Trump padded his lead by winning in Florida, North Carolina and Illinois. The winner of Missouri remains undetermined, with Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz in a tight contest. With Sen. Marco Rubio bowing out after a dismal performance in Florida, Kasich is expected to become the favored candidate within the Republican establishment, which has watched Trump disrupt its influence. But 30 contests into the primary season, Kasich has an uphill road, and little time. Whether his candidacy receives a jolt or sputters out by Pennsylvania's April 24 primary remains to be seen. Meanwhile, Kasich's standing on the Pennsylvania ballot is being challenged by a University of Pennsylvania student. Nathaniel Rome, a Penn sophomore and chairman of the Pennsylvania Students for Rubio network, petitioned Commonwealth Court to remove Kasich from the primary election ballot, alleging that the Ohio governor did not meet the statutory requirement of at least 2,000 signatures on his nominating petition. The signatures were certified by the Pennsylvania secretary of state. Rome, a resident of Strafford, Chester County, contends in his court filing that as many as 802 of the 2,184 signatures on the Kasich petition are invalid or ineligible, for multiple reasons. Specifically, Rome claims that many of the signatures of Kasich's electors do not match the signatures of their voter registration cards. Other electors, he says, are either not registered to vote, are not registered in the specified district or are not registered as Republicans. In several instances, the petition challenges illegible signatures or handwriting that appears to belong to third parties other than the stated elector. At a March 9 court hearing, Kasich's lawyer, Lawrence Otter, acknowledged that his client's campaign did not obtain enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Otter countered, however, that Rome's petition itself is moot because it was filed 13 minutes after a deadline to challenge nominating petitions in Pennsylvania. "We are fully confident that we will be on the Pennsylvania ballot," said Rob Nichols, campaign spokesman for Kasich for America, has told PhillyVoice. Elected Ohio's governor in 2010, Kasich pushed a Medicaid expansion through the Republican-controlled legislature. But he also signed a law restricting collective bargaining for public employees, which Ohio voters repealed eight months later. Yet, those same voters overwhelmingly re-elected Kasich in 2014.

• published: 16 Mar 2016
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