Democrat Says New GOP Foe Continuation of Pence

“Eric Holcomb wholeheartedly embraced the failed approach that embarrassed our state, cost us jobs and has left the middle class behind”, his Democratic opponent, former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg said in a statement, an apparent reference to Pence’s controversial support of religious liberty bills, angering gay rights activists who argued they endorsed discrimination.

Scott Walker is a close political ally and friend of Pence. “This includes RFRA, one of the more restrictive women’s health laws in the nation, and a state economy that has our workers’ incomes falling behind the rest of the country”. Both of those planks of his conservative social agenda led to national characterizations of IN as a place that wanted to restrict the rights of people not part of the white, male power structure.

Six months ago, Holcomb was running third in a three-way Republican primary for U.S. Senate until Pence appointed him to replace Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, who had resigned to become president of Ivy Tech Community College. He started out by taking a shot at the fact that Holcomb never has been elected to fill a public office by the voters and then proceeded to wrap Pence’s support around the new GOP candidate’s neck like an anchor and chain. Eric Holcomb answered the call to serve IN by helping Governors Daniels and Pence turn the state around.

The state GOP’s 22-member central committee met privately Tuesday and chose Holcomb over two members of Congress vying for the job – Rep. Susan Brooks and Rep. Todd Rokita.

They point to his deep knowledge of IN, as a political operative and from travels along thousands of miles of two-lane highway, even before he became lieutenant governor IN March.

IN usually doesn’t get much attention when it comes to presidential politics, given its history as a solid “red” state and the relatively small number of delegates it has.

Apparently they couldn’t see that’s what Gregg and the Democrats had to want, too.

The Indiana Republican state committee voted during a private meeting Tuesday to nominate Holcomb after Pence dropped his re-election bid to become Donald Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

In an interview with the Associated Press Gregg offered congratulations but said he remained focused on “cleaning up the mess that’s been made” by the “the Pence-Holcomb administration”.

Holcomb, 48, is the former head of Indiana’s Republican Party.

“It’s about IN being 39th IN per-capita income”, Gregg said.

“You think Mike Pence would say this?” he smiled to the audience in Roanoke, Virginia. It’s going to be a great race. He chaired the state party for more than five years before Pence appointed him lieutenant governor in March. In the future, there may be other opportunities that are presented to me that would expand my ability to influence change on a larger scale and I will give each one the careful consideration I gave this opportunity.