Former Republican U.S. presidential nominee Mitt Romney (R) introduces current Republican presidential candidate John Kasich (L) as they get off the Kasich campaign bus inside the MAPS Air Museum for a campaign rally in North Canton, Ohio March 14, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate John Kasich’s campaign on Monday denied a report that Mitt Romney, the party’s presidential candidate in 2012, would endorse the Ohio governor on Monday.

A Wall Street Journal reporter said Kasich answered in the affirmative to a question about Romney’s endorsement. Kasich spokesman Chris Schrimpf said, “This is not true. Kasich was responding and acknowledging a different question.”

A Romney endorsement would have provided Kasich with a boost on the eve of Ohio’s primary in which he and front-runner Donald Trump are running a close race for first place.