Eric Holcomb is an American politician and the current governor of the state of Indiana. He is a registered Republican. Holcomb has been the governor since January 2017, and ran for election during the 2020 elections. His current term ends in 2025. 

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Who is Eric Holcomb?

Holcomb was born on May 2, 1968 in the Indiana state capital, Indianapolis. He spent most of his youth there, attending Pike High School. 

He attended Hanover College in Indiana and graduated in 1990. Shortly after, Holcomb joined the United States Navy, where he worked as a naval intelligence officer. Over the six years he spent on active duty, Holcomb spent time abroad in Lisbon, Portugal as well as back home in the US in Jacksonville, Florida. 

The 54-year-old’s first foray into politics was in 1997 when he worked for John Hostettler who was a member of the US House of Representatives at the time. Three years later in 2000, Holcomb ran his own campaign to be elected into the Indiana House of Representatives, but lost to John Frenz. 

From 2003 onwards until 2011 Holcomb worked as an advisor to then-Indiana governor Mitch Daniels. He climbed the ranks at Daniels’ office and became the Deputy Chief of Staff, even managing the former governor’s 2008 re-election campaign. Three years later, he was elected to head the Republican Party in Indiana. In 2013, he resigned from the position, opting instead to become the chief of staff of former Indiana senator, Dan Coats. Soon after, Coats would announce that he would not run for re-election in the 2016 elections.

Holcomb himself had US Senate ambitions, but opted instead to withdraw after he was nominated to take over as Lieutenant Governor of Indiana after Sue Ellspermann resigned. In 2016, Holcomb was the running mate of Mike Pence for the latter’s gubernatorial campaign. However, Pence withdrew to become the Republican nominee for vice-president under Donald Trump’s presidential nomination. 

Holcomb won his 2016 governor bid, defeating his opponent John R. Gregg, beating him narrowly by gaining 51.4% of the vote.