Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s staff held a “come to Jesus” meeting early Wednesday as reality set in that Donald Trump would be the 45th U.S. commander in chief.

The Buckeye State and its critical 18 electoral votes helped Mr. Trump’s Republican campaign thrash rival Hillary Clinton (279 electoral college votes to 228), despite not having Mr. Kasich’s support. An inside source told The Daily Caller that the billionaire’s stunning victory prompted pleas to cancel an upcoming speech laced with anti-Trump rhetoric.

“The inner circle sat him down and had a come to Jesus talk and got him to cancel the speech,” the source said, the website reported Thursday.

The website noted that Mr. Trump’s Ohio win was impressive because former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had access to Mr. Kasich’s full support network in 2012 and still lost his White House bid to President Obama.

John Weaver, an adviser to Mr. Kasich, warned in September that Mr. Trump’s campaign would possibly lose to the former secretary of state in a landslide.

“The Governor is traveling the nation supporting down ballot Republicans and preventing a potential national wipeout from occurring on [RNC chairman Reince Priebus’] watch,” Mr. Weaver said, Politico reported Sept. 18.

Mr. Kasich wrote in Arizona Sen. John McCain on his presidential ballot Tuesday, but he did take time to congratulate Mr. Trump on Twitter early Wednesday.

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