John Kasich’s week is off to a bad start.
Speaking at George Mason University during a town hall meeting in Fairfax, Va. on Monday, the Republican presidential candidate made a controversial comment about how his female supporters “left their kitchens” to help him campaign for the Ohio state Senate in 1978.
Minutes later, Kasich was called out by a female audience member about the remark, saying, “Your comment earlier about the women coming out of the kitchen to support you—I’ll come support you but I wont be coming out of the kitchen.”
The comment has since been gaining attention on Twitter, with female voters calling the Ohio governor’s comment misogynistic.
https://twitter.com/cabennetttt/status/701834342398566401
Women don't forget to go vote for Kasich if you've got enough time after mopping your kitchen floor!
— Freedom, just like in the book! 😉Thanks Rush (@jojo2727) February 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/MaydnUSA/status/701833174222036992
In response to the comments, Kasich’s spokesperson Chris Schrimpf relased the following statement, according to NBC:
“John Kasich’s campaigns have always been homegrown affairs. They’ve literally been run out of his friends’ kitchens and many of his early campaign teams were made up of stay-at-home moms who believed deeply in the changes he wanted to bring to them and their families. That’s real grassroots campaigning and he’s proud of that authentic support. To try and twist his comments into anything else is just desperate politics.”
On Sunday, Kasich signed a bill that aims to defund Planned Parenthood in his home state, for which he has also received criticism from female voters.