Indiana Republican leaders appoint Pence’s preferred successor
John Gregg, a former Indiana House speaker who narrowly lost to Pence in the 2012 election.
“We … cannot allow our state to slip, drift, go backward to those days of debt and delayed payments,” Holcomb said. “The only way we contin- ue Indiana’s progress is by joining together, which is what we have done.”
Holcomb, a 48-year-old former state Republican chairman who has never been elected to office, was only recently appointed lieutenant governor after Pence’s prior running mate stepped down in March. He spent the previous 10 months running for this year’s Republican U.S. Senate nomination but had little fundraising success and dropped out to accept the lieutenant governor appointment.
U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks and Todd Rokita also sought the GOP nomination for governor, with supporters arguing they were better candidates to extend the GOP’s 12-year hold on the governor’s office.
Brooks said she was the most qualified, pointing to her time as a U.S. attorney under former President George W. Bush, while sounding a more moderate tone on divisive social issues that have been a hallmark of Pence’s tenure.
A rejection of Holcomb could’ve been embarrassing for Pence just days after his ratification as the Republican vice presidential candidate. Holcomb pressed his case over the weekend, arguing he had been promised assistance from Pence’s more than $7 million camping fund, which he said was “something no other candidate in this race can boast.”