3 vying to replace Pence in race for Indiana governor
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — In a little more than an hour Friday, Indiana's election season lost its incumbent candidate for governor, gained three new candidates for that race and watched tickets for congressional and state offices change.
The simple cause for the chaos: GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump officially tapped Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate Friday morning.
Indiana law bars a candidate from seeking state and federal offices at the same time, so a representative for Pence filed paperwork to remove his name from November's ballot shortly after Trump's tweet.
Whoever is passed over for the governor's race can be restored to the ballot for the positions they withdrew from Friday, but Indiana Republican Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell said the candidates were given no assurances they'd be chosen to return to their former races.
Gregg, who had been locked in a contentious governor's race with Pence, said Indiana's problems, including a lack of high-paying jobs, infrastructure woes and drug abuse, took a back seat to Pence's "personal ambition and extreme ideologies" during his time as governor.