The Latest: Holcomb credits Trump with boosting Indiana GOP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the Indiana election (all times local):

4:25 p.m.

Indiana's next governor is crediting President-elect Donald Trump's landslide election among Hoosier voters for the sweeping Republican victories in the state.

Republican Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb said Wednesday he spoke with Trump and vice presidential running mate/Indiana Gov. Mike Pence after election returns showed Holcomb winning the governor's race.

Holcomb says Trump drew many supporters who never voted before, boosting Republican candidates throughout the state.

Holcomb began work toward taking over the governor's office by naming a 16-person transition team led by two people who he worked with as top aides to former Gov. Mitch Daniels. They are former Daniels chief of staff Earl Goode and former Department of Natural Resources Director Kyle Hupfer.

___

1:30 p.m.

Indiana's next Senator says Congress needs to provide a strong check on the power wielded by future President Donald Trump.

Republican Todd Young said Wednesday that it's time for lawmakers to "reassert" themselves and "stop delegating so many powers."

He says "it's just our constitutional duty to keep the executive branch in check."

Young is a sitting congressman from southern Indiana who defeated Democrat Evan Bayh in Tuesday's election.

The Republican has said that no matter who is president, Congress has an important role to play in preventing executive overreach.

He also struck a bipartisan tone and said the results of the election suggest voters want something drastically different from the status quo.

___

1 p.m.

State Sen. Jim Banks has resigned his seat in the General Assembly following his election to northeastern Indiana's 3rd District congressional seat.

The Columbia City Republican sent a letter to Senate President Pro Tem David Long resigning the seat effective at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

A caucus of Republican precinct committeemen in state Senate District 17 will meet to select Banks' replacement.

Banks has held the seat for the past six years. He was elected Tuesday to the congressional seat that Rep. Marlin Stutzman vacated for a failed U.S. Senate bid.

___

11:20 a.m.

Republican Eric Holcomb will be working with GOP supermajorities in the Legislature when he takes office as Indiana's new governor in January.

Republicans won at least 69 House seats, putting them back over the two-thirds majority mark needed to take action even if no Democrats are present. Democrats had hoped in Tuesday's election to pick up at least the five seats needed to break the supermajority, but have gained only a single seat with one race winner not yet called.

Republicans also are keeping their state Senate supermajority by holding at least 40 of its 50 seats.

Holcomb is beginning work on his move from being lieutenant governor to the state's top office by meeting Wednesday with his transition team.

___

1:30 a.m.

Eric Holcomb won the Indiana governor's office as part of a Republican wave swept all state offices and large majorities in the General Assembly.

Holcomb's victory comes a little more than three months after replacing Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence as the GOP nominee. He is a former Indiana Republican Party chairman but wasn't well known around the state when he started the campaign, having only been appointed by Pence as lieutenant governor in March.

Holcomb defeated Democratic candidate John Gregg while running several percentage points behind Donald Trump's landside margin in the state.

Holcomb touted the state's improved fiscal condition under the past 12 years of Republican governors.