TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be part of the Kansas Republican caucuses next year.

The Kansas Republican Party said in a news release Wednesday that Christie paid the $15,000 filing fee to qualify for the March 5 caucuses.

Christie visited Kansas several times in 2014 to campaign for Gov. Sam Brownback’s re-election. He was chairman of the Republican Governors Association at the time.

He is the seventh candidate to file for the Kansas caucuses. Others are Donald Trump, Ben Carson, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.