We’ve barely had a chance to catch our breath from the presidential campaign. Guess what? Pennsylvania is about to start its own version of the process all over again.

With first term Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf up for re-election in 2018, Republicans are beginning to line up for the right to challenge him.

Butler’s own Mike Kelly, 3rd District U.S. congressman, is said to be one of the leading and first-declared contenders for the job.

Kelly was mentioned prominently in a report published this weekend by Harrisburg’s online newspaper, pennlive.com.

The article mentioned that Wolf has not yet declared his intent to seek re-election — nor is he likely to to declare anytime soon, given the political vacuum created by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s recent surprise victory in Pennsylvania, a consistent blue state in recent history.

Kelly has been an unwavering Trump supporter, even before the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, where delegate Kelly also backed Trump.

PennLive indicates Kelly has not yet declared his candidacy, but he appears ready to — and if he’s the only candidate from Western Pennsylvania, it would help him to declare early. The strategy worked in 1994 for Tom Ridge when Ridge held the same congressional seat that Kelly holds now.

The Ridge-Kelly comparison stops there, however. Ridge has made it abundantly clear that Trump was the first Republican presidential nominee that he could not vote for.

“With a bumper sticker approach to policy, his bombastic tone reflects the traits of a bully, not an American president and statesman,” Ridge wrote in an essay for the May 17 U.S. News and World Report. “If he cannot unite Republicans, how can he unite America? I simply cannot endorse him.”

The Kelly-Ridge opposing views touch upon that potential Jekyll and Hyde situation for Western Pennsylvanians, particularly for Western Pennsylvania Republicans. In our hearts, are we the rock-ribbed conservatives we profess to be, or are we really the bigots and racists all those protesters claim we are?

If Kelly runs for governor, should he adopt a more brash, corrosive campaign style that proved effective for Trump? Should he go with a more reserved, conciliatory yet issues-related style that’s more reminiscent of Ridge? Or will just being the same Mike Kelly as always be enough to capture the governor’s mansion?

Once again, it will be a two-step process: first the race for the 2018 spring primary for the Republican nomination; then the general election in November against Wolf.

So catch your breath while you can. Like it or not, the politicking will resume very shortly.