Presidential hopeful and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will hold a town hall campaign event at Grand Valley State University on Feb. 15. The event will take place beginning at 9:45 a.m. in the Pere Marquette Room of the Kirkhof Center, located on GVSU’s Allendale Campus. The event is sponsored by the GVSU College Republicans club.

Kasich is scheduled to start speaking at 10 a.m. and is expected to speak for an hour. The event is free and tickets are not required.

“It is open to all GVSU students, regardless of political preferences, and the general public,” said Mike Sullivan, College Republicans chairperson.

Doors will open to the general public at 9:30 a.m.

Kasich’s appearance at GVSU follows his better-than-expected finish in the New Hampshire primary. Kasich finished in second place in the first primary in the nation, gaining 44,909 votes, good enough for 15.8 percent of the field and picked up four delegates. He finished in a distant second behind Donald Trump, who won 10 delegates with his 100,406 votes, which counted for more than a third of all Republican votes.

Following Trump and Kasich, Ted Cruz, who eked out a win in the Iowa Caucus, came in third place with 33,189 votes, gaining three delegates with his 11.7 percent of the vote.

In Kasich’s speech Tuesday night following the New Hampshire primary, he appeared hopeful that his campaign could continue to gain traction moving into the South Carolina and Nevada primary elections.

“We don’t see it as just another campaign; we see this as just another opportunity for all of us — and I mean all of us — to be involved in something that’s bigger than our own lives,” Kasich said.

Kasich, who is considered to be a more moderate Republican than many others in the race for the GOP nomination, hopes to gain ground in Michigan before the state holds its primaries on March 8.

After Kasich’s town hall meeting at GVSU, he will travel to the east side of the state, speaking at 6:30 p.m. on Feb .15 at the Macomb County Republican headquarters in Utica, Michigan. Kasich will remain in Michigan on Tuesday, speaking at the GOP office in Livonia, Michigan at 10 a.m.

For more information about the event at GVSU, contact Sullivan at (231) 881-7133 or [email protected].