FORT WAYNE – On the heels of two election-night defeats related to residency, Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg on Wednesday labeled Republican opponent Mike Pence as a Virginian who is running for office in Indiana and is out of touch with Hoosier voters.

“He may meet that legal definition (of residency),” Gregg said. “It’s a question of whether or not they’ve gone Washington with them being out there.”

Pence was first elected to Congress in 2000 and has had a home in Arlington, Va., since 2002 while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gregg released a 30-second campaign video Wednesday that compared Pence to U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and David McIntosh – two politicos with homes in Virginia who lost in Tuesday night’s primary election.

Lugar does not own a home in Indiana, instead staying at hotels when he visits. McIntosh rented a place in Anderson for his congressional run this year.

Gregg also conducted a conference call on the topic Wednesday, questioning why Pence won’t give a straight answer on how he is dividing his time between Indiana and Virginia.

Pence and his wife own a home in Virginia, where his younger kids go to school. His oldest is at Purdue University. That house, according to property records, is valued at more than $600,000. Virginia does not have homestead exemptions on property.

The couple also owns a home in Pence’s hometown of Columbus that is valued at $140,000. It has a homestead exemption for property tax purposes. Both houses are upper-middle-class brick homes.

In a recent interview with The Journal Gazette, Pence declined to specify how much time he is spending in Indiana campaigning compared with time he spends in Washington, D.C., on congressional duties.

“I think it’s very clear that Mike’s an Indiana resident,” said Christy Denault, spokesman for the Pence campaign, noting that Pence and his wife vote in Indiana.

nkelly@jg.net