Indiana GOP governor candidate picks auditor as running mate
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - New Indiana Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Holcomb said Friday that he has picked the state auditor, Suzanne Crouch, as his running mate.
The decision by Holcomb, the current state lieutenant governor, comes three days after the Indiana Republican state committee voted to have him replace Gov. Mike Pence on the November ballot in a reshuffling caused by Pence becoming Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate.
Crouch, 64, is from Evansville and was a state legislator and a Vanderburgh County commissioner before Pence appointed her state auditor in early 2014. She won election to a full term as auditor later that year.
Holcomb said Crouch has valuable experience in local and state government that has prepared her to become lieutenant governor.
"She is full of energy and passion and is a natural at barnstorming the state," Holcomb said in a statement. "She is a relentless campaigner, a great fundraiser and will be the perfect governing partner."
Holcomb is running against Democrat John Gregg, a former Indiana House speaker who narrowly lost to Pence in the 2012 election. Gregg's running mate is state Rep. Christina Hale, of Indianapolis.
Holcomb faced a Friday deadline to select a running mate, as whoever he selected had to file paperwork with state election officials 72 hour before a Monday meeting of the GOP state committee to select the candidate.
Two political unknowns were the only other candidates to file for consideration, making the committee meeting largely a formality, unlike Tuesday's committee vote when Holcomb was selected over U.S. Reps. Susan Brooks and Todd Rokita for the gubernatorial nomination.
Gregg spokesman Jeff Harris said the campaign was not commenting on Crouch's selection until it becomes official.
Holcomb, a 48-year-old former state Republican Party chairman who has never been elected to office, became lieutenant governor in March after Pence's 2012 running mate, Sue Ellspermann, resigned to seek the presidency of Ivy Tech State College.
Crouch was first elected to the Indiana House in 2005. She rose to become vice chairman of the budget-writing House Ways and Means Committee before she was appointed auditor, an administrative office that handles state payments and tax distributions.
Crouch gained attention during the 2011 legislative session by sponsoring a bill to require that state documents be issued only in English.
She said she proposed the bill after a constituent asked her why state documents were provided in other languages even though Indiana law states that English is the official language. The proposal was approved by the House, but did not advance in the Senate.