KASICH: 'Well-meaning' anti-Trump electors should 'not vote for me'

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Presidential electors should not peel away from their Electoral College commitments to vote against President-elect Donald Trump, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said in a Tuesday statement.

"I am not a candidate for president and ask that electors not vote for me when they gather later this month," Kasich said in a statement posted to his Twitter account. "Our country had an election and Donald Trump won."

"The country is divided and there are certainly raw emotions on both sides stemming from the election," he continued. "But this approach, as well meaning as it is, will only serve to further divide our nation when unity is what we need. The election is over. Now is the time for all of us to come together as Americans."

The statement came in response to a group of Colorado and Washington state electors that were considering an effort to convince Republican electors to abandon Trump and cast their votes for Kasich.

The group, reported by Politico as the self-proclaimed "Hamilton Electors," are made up of Democrats and see Kasich, a 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, as a leading compromise pick to convince Republican electors.

The group would have to convince 37 Republican electors to join them in order to reach 270 electoral votes, if all Democratic electors were to join in. The group claims to have convinced one elector to abandon Trump so far.

Kasich did not endorse Trump following the Republican primary, but did call to congratulate him following his victory in November.

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