INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - Now that Mike Pence is officially running for Vice President, a new race has emerged to fill his seat as Governor.
It began Friday morning, the second it was made official via Twitter that Mike Pence would be running for Vice President, it set off a domino effect with big name republicans vying to fill his shoes.
The day began with an attorney, filing a form on behalf of Pence, withdrawing his name from the race for Governor and paving the way for him to run with Donald Trump.
Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcomb was first in to the Secretary of State’s office to remove his name from the Lieutenant Governor’s race. He was followed by Congressman Todd Rokita, and a representative for Congresswoman Susan Brooks was on hand to remove her name from the race for Congress.
“I’m excited about the future of the state of Indiana and where we are right now. The facts speak for themselves and I’ll be able to articulate why we are in as strong as a position as we are right now,” said Holcomb.
“We’re prepared for the state committee, we’re prepared for the three months after that and we’re going to win,” said Rokita.
It was a fight against the clock Friday, all names interested in the governor’s seat, had to remove themselves from their existing races before noon, which left 60 minutes for everyone to get in and file the proper paper work, following Trump’s VP announcement.
“I’m not in limbo, I’m still campaigning, I’m the only candidate that’s still running for governor,” said John Gregg, the democratic candidate for Governor.
While three republicans are now fighting for a spot in November, the same democrat, John Gregg, remains. But the question now, with his longtime opponent out, is this fight any easier for him, come November?
“I don’t have any control over any of that but I can tell you that we’ve been working hard, we’re getting encouragement,” he said.
Now, a 22 member republican state committee has 30 days to select the party’s candidate for Governor.
Indiana GOP Chairman Jeff Caldwell told CBS4 the committee would meet at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 26 to choose the Gubernatorial nominee and Monday, August 1 to choose the Lieutenant Governor candidate. The group would then need to meet before August 14 to fill any other open spots.
If Holcomb, Brooks, or Rokita are not chosen as the nominee for Governor, the committee could put them back on their respective ballots.
Caldwell said there's already a lot of interest for the open spots.
"We have a lot of great talent across the GOP bench so there’s a lot of great interest and there’s a lot of talent that’s stepping forward," Caldwell said.
That interest started to emerge, with Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard admitting he is thinking about running for Rep. Brooks' seat if she is the Gubernatorial nominee.
"I have expressed interest, I’m listening to the people that are asking me to consider this position," Brainard said. "There are very few local officials in our Congress and we tend to be non-partisan, as Mayors."
Congressman Todd Rokita files to withdraw from race for congress and run for Gov pic.twitter.com/TgnOyA43J0
— James Gherardi (@JamesGherardi) July 15, 2016
HAPPENING NOW: Lt. Gov Eric Holcomb is filing paperwork to run for Governor - minutes after Pence withdrew pic.twitter.com/r3k26WnopB
— James Gherardi (@JamesGherardi) July 15, 2016
Here it is, the official paperwork filed on behalf of #Pence by an attorney so he can run for VP pic.twitter.com/is2efqd54w
— James Gherardi (@JamesGherardi) July 15, 2016