CONCORD, N.H. — Governor John Kasich took second place in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary Tuesday night, a major victory for the self-proclaimed happy warrior who traversed the back byways of the state toting a digital national debt clock and optimistically describing how he’d balance the budget.
In a year of the so-called angry voter, Kasich remained upbeat, touting his fiscal bona fides and avoiding criticism of his fire-throwing opponents in a state where anger perhaps is at lower tide than elsewhere, with unemployment well below the national average.
“We never went negative because we have more good to sell,” he told a crowd in Concord. “Maybe, just maybe, at a time when clearly change is in the air, maybe we are turning the page on a dark page of American politics, because tonight the light overcame the darkness.”
A solid showing in New Hampshire was vital for Kasich, who devoted virtually all his campaign time to the state, to the exclusion of Iowa. He took a dismal eighth place in Iowa’s Republican caucuses last week, winning less than 2 percent of the vote.
Kasich drove his campaign with traditional New Hampshire primary politicking. While Donald Trump, the first-place winner, held rallies in cavernous auditoriums, Kasich powered 106 town meetings in veteran halls and town offices, taking hundreds of questions and returning quick-witted answers that were equal parts Washington wonk-speak and aw-shucks asides.
“I liked his experience and his approach to the economy,” said Peggy Larkin, a 44-year-old human resources coordinator from Hollis who turned out for Kasich’s party here.
As a result, Kasich edged out several other GOP candidates competing for the support of mainstream voters.
He made sure to point out along the way that history was on his side; no Republican has won the White House without winning Ohio.
In a year that has seen establishment candidates cast aside, Kasich rose above with credentials that bear little resemblance to a renegade. A former state senator and nine-term House member who later worked at Lehman Brothers, he was elected governor in 2010.
He claimed the support of major GOP players in New Hampshire, including former senator John E. Sununu and former congressman Charlie Bass, and he went on to win endorsements from a slew of New Hampshire newspapers, as well as The Boston Globe and The New York Times.
But more than anything, he hammered the notion that he was the choice for people looking for a middle way in a state where independent voters make up 40 percent of the electorate.
“Hillary’s too brittle, and Bernie’s way out here on the extreme. I’m the right porridge,” Kasich said in Windham on Monday.
Mike Munhall looked long and hard for the right middle-of-the-pack candidate.
“I do love Bernie,” said Munhall, a 67-year-old retired teacher who was considering Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders but switched to Kasich in the voting booth. “But I like the practicality of Kasich.”
Munhall had reservations about Kasich’s position on climate change. “He was hedging,” Munhall said. But the Bennington resident was won over by a sense that Kasich would be able to bring consensus to Washington.
Kasich didn’t let up until the end, concluding his New Hampshire push on Tuesday with a sprint across the southern tier.
There is historical precedent for Kasich’s path forward: In 1992, another governor lost the Iowa caucuses, then came in second in the New Hampshire primary, and went on to win his party’s nomination — and the White House.
He returned this year, trying to make a Comeback Kid of his wife.
Sarah Schweitzer can be reached at sschweitzer@ globe.com.