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Gov. John R. Kasich, a blunt-spoken and unorthodox Republican who bucked his party by expanding Medicaid under President Obama’s health care law and says politicians must “reach out and help those who live in the shadows,” is expected to announce Tuesday that he is joining his party’s long list of candidates for president. Mr. Kasich, 63, would become the 16th prominent Republican to enter the 2016 field. As a two-term governor in a critical swing state — no candidate since John F. Kennedy in 1960 has won the White House without winning Ohio — he will be a credible candidate, though his late entry means he has catch-up work to do. (Stolberg, 7/21)

Budget and the Economy: Mr. Kasich broke with other conservative governors by accepting funds for the expansion of Medicaid under Mr. Obama’s Affordable Care Act, though he said he opposed the law. The expansion made 275,000 Ohioans eligible for Medicaid. Mr. Kasich has in recent years defended the social safety net, taking issue with fellow Republicans who slash poverty programs. “I’m concerned about the fact there seems to be a war on the poor,” he said in 2013. He has pointed to his experience as a fiscal hawk as chairman of the House Budget Committee during the Clinton administration, when he proposed alternative budgets that cut federal spending, including military appropriations and entitlements like Medicaid. As Ohio governor, though, Mr. Kasich has emphasized his record of balancing budgets, cutting taxes and, most important, creating jobs — though critics have said he partly benefited from an improving national economy. (Mullany, 7/21)

In a large and varied Republican field, there may be no more confounding presidential candidate than John Kasich. In the 1990s, he was part of the conservative revolution on Capitol Hill. As Ohio governor, he has cut income taxes and government regulation, battled organized labor and approved new restrictions on abortion and voting rights. He also spared several inmates facing execution, supported higher taxes on cigarettes and fracking and horrified conservatives by expanding healthcare access under the Affordable Care Act, throwing in a lecture on what it means to be a good Christian. (Barabak, 7/21)

The two-term Republican governor’s bid will test whether a candidate who has bucked the right flank of his party on issues ranging from Medicaid expansion to immigration can gain traction in a primary. Mr. Kasich, 63 years old, is counting on his mix of executive and Capitol Hill experience to catapult him to contender status. He’ll also tout his work on national security and budget issues during his tenure as a congressman from 1983 until 2001, as well as the economic turnaround in Ohio. (McCain Nelson, 7/20)

The two-term governor will announce his bid during a Tuesday appearance at The Ohio State University, his alma mater, where he will highlight his long career in public office and his success in turning around his state’s troubled economy. ... Nationally, his decision to embrace a key component of Obamacare — the expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults — could hurt him with conservative voters, who despise the president’s health-care law, and puts him at odds with his primary opponents. Kasich, though, has a more immediate concern: qualifying for the first Republican primary debate, slated for Aug. 6 in Cleveland. (Isenstadt, 7/21)

Kasich served in the House for 18 years and was chairman of the Budget Committee at a time when Washington balanced the federal budget for the first time in a generation. He spent another decade in the business world before winning the governorship in 2010. He won reelection in a landslide last November after his Democratic opponent imploded a few months before the general election. ... In Ohio, he engineered an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, in contrast to many Republican governors. He has championed spending more money on such things as treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. He cites his religious faith as motivating him to help those in need. (Balz, 7/21)

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is set to round out the Republican presidential field Tuesday when he formally announces his White House bid. ... He has accepted Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, supports Common Core education standards and has allowed for the possibility of a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. (Burlij and LoBianco, 7/21)