BATON ROUGE (AP) — Republican state Sen. Neil Riser has picked up the support of two Louisiana congressmen for his bid to fill an open congressional seat in the October special election.

Riser has received endorsements from GOP U.S. Reps. Charles Boustany, of Lafayette, and John Fleming, of Minden, in the race for the seat representing Louisiana’s 5th District.

The seat will be vacant when Rodney Alexander resigns in September to take a job as veterans secretary for Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Alexander announced his resignation Wednesday. On Thursday, Jindal set the special election for Oct. 19, with the candidate sign-up period Aug. 19-21.

Also announced as a candidate in the 5th District race is state Rep. Marcus Hunter, a Democrat from Monroe.

The 5th District is largely rural, stretching across northeast and central Louisiana.