Though it seems likely Pence will use a portion of it to further his national ambitions rather than donating all the money to whoever is picked to succeed him on the Indiana ballot.

Rokita, who served two terms as Indiana secretary of state, and Holcomb, who unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate earlier this year and previously was chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, do at least have supporters across the state they can turn to for help.

However, Brooks’ political career as former deputy mayor of Indianapolis and U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana means her backers generally are concentrated in central Indiana.

Further complicating matters for whoever becomes the Republican nominee is that Pence took his top gubernatorial campaign staff with him to the national GOP ticket, leaving his large (and costly) cadre of campaign workers in limbo.

Holcomb, Rokita and Brooks all have formed nascent campaign teams since withdrawing Friday from their re-election bids, but even something as simple as knowing who their running mate is won’t be decided until six days after someone is selected to run for governor.