TOMS RIVER - Ocean County GOP leader George R. Gilmore, convicted on federal tax charges last week, has resigned as chairman of the county's Republican organization.

Gilmore submitted his letter of resignation to the organization, effective at 4 p.m. Wednesday. The GOP organization's vice chairwoman, Barbara Lanuto, will take over as acting chair until an election is held to determine Gilmore's successor.

Freeholder Director Virginia E. Haines said the Ocean County Republican Committee would meet, probably sometime next month, to choose Gilmore's replacement.

Gilmore did not respond to a request for comment.

It was a swift fall from grace. Toms River resident Gilmore, 70, also resigned Tuesday from his position as chairman of Ocean County's Board of Elections. He had held that position since 1995.

A federal jury April 17 convicted Gilmore on one count of filing a false bank loan application and two counts of failure to pay payroll taxes for the first two quarters of 2016 for employees of his Toms River law firm, Gilmore & Monahan.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23 and faces a maximum sentence of more than 30 years in federal prison and fines totaling $1.5 million.

Freeholder Jack Kelly said it was premature to say who would be Gilmore's successor.

"I think it's really jumping the gun to say who it is going to be, because that vote involves 800 and something people," Kelly said, referring to the size of the Ocean County Republican Committee.

The committee is represented by two GOP delegates — a man and a woman — from each election district in each of the county's 33 towns.

Nevertheless, Haines said that the county's GOP leadership supports CPA Frank B. Holman III to succeed Gilmore as chairman. Holman's firm, Holman Frenia Allison P.C., is located in Toms River.

"We're supportive of Frank," Haines said. "The county committee is going to be meeting sometime in May. We don't have an exact date."

The committee must meet within 60 days from the date that the chairman resigns, Haines said.

More:Ocean County GOP leader George Gilmore resigns from Election Board

Related:Ocean County GOP boss George Gilmore to give up public jobs

Gilmore was found not guilty of filing false tax returns, and the panel was unable to reach a decision on perhaps the most serious charge against him, that he evaded income taxes in 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Gilmore's lawyer, Kevin Marino, has said he plans to submit a motion with U.S. District Court Judge Anne E. Thompson to overturn the jury's guilty verdicts by mid-May. Thompson has scheduled oral arguments on the motion for May 30 in Trenton federal court.

Marino said last week that Gilmore would resign from his public offices in the wake of his conviction.

No Democrat was elected to countywide office under Gilmore’s watch. His longevity, fundraising prowess and his organization's ability to reliably turn out GOP voters made him one of the most powerful Republican figures in New Jersey.

Learn more about Gilmore's influence in the video above this story.

Holman, who appears to be the front-runner to succeed Gilmore as county chairman, has deep political roots in Ocean County.

His father, Frank B. Holman Jr., served as a committeeman and mayor in Jackson, and as Ocean County administrator from 1976 to 1982. A brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force reserve, Holman served as an Air Force pilot during the Korean War.

Holman was executive director and chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee during GOP Gov. Tom Kean's administration. Kean appointed him executive director of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority in 1988.

Two years later, Holman left the authority to form the Holman Group, a political consulting firm. He advised Republican Christie Whitman during her two successful campaigns for governor.

Jean Mikle: 732-643-4050, @jeanmikle, jmikle@gannettnj.com; Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359, @Erik_Larsen, elarsen@gannettnj.com