"I am not a candidate for president and ask that electors not vote for me when they gather later this month," John Kasich wrote. | Getty Kasich asks presidential electors not to vote for him

Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Tuesday asked members of the Electoral College not to vote for him, a blow to efforts by anti-Donald Trump electors to forge consensus on an alternative to Trump.

Kasich’s call came as a group of Democratic electors — with the support of a single Republican elector in Texas — signaled they were coalescing behind Kasich as the most broadly acceptable choice. But Kasich’s statement could send them back to the drawing board.


"I am not a candidate for president and ask that electors not vote for me when they gather later this month. Our country had an election and Donald Trump won." Kasich wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. "The country is divided and there are certainly raw emotions on both sides stemming from the election. 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,” he continued. “Now is the time for all of us to come together as Americans.”

The 538 members of the Electoral College are set to meet Dec. 19 at noon in their respective state capitals, where they will cast the only constitutionally authorized vote for president.

At least eight Democratic electors in Washington and Colorado are pleading with their Republican counterparts to reject Trump. If they were to persuade at least 37 to do so, it would send the election to the House of Representatives. So far, only a single Republican — Chris Suprun of Texas — has indicated he’ll reject Trump. In a New York Times op-ed, Suprun also indicated a preference for Kasich as an alternative.

Micheal Baca, one of the Colorado electors leading the anti-Trump effort, said Kasich's pubic disavowal of the effort is actually a welcome sign.

"George Washington was a reluctant leader but he was the right person at the right time," Baca said in a phone interview. "I am voting for the values and the experience that I look for in the leader to lead this country and unite this country. Governor Kasich has those values and he provides a contrast to Donald Trump."

Baca, a Democrat who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders in the party's primary, said he will cast his electoral vote for a Republican alternative no matter what happens for the remainder of the process, and he is encouraging his allies to do the same.

"I wouldn't ask another Republican to do what I wouldn't do. I'm not the baker who doesn't eat his own bread," he said.

Baca said Kasich's decision to disavow the effort is also a sign that the push by electors has gained prominence and the attention of party leaders. He noted that Kasich described their effort as "well meaning."