A week after Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos died in a plane crash, he has been replaced on the ticket by former running mate Marina Silva, according to CNN.

Giving Silva top billing on the ticket could give the Brazilian Socialist Party a better chance at winning the presidency than it had with Campos. Silva, a former senator, is a popular politician in the Brazil. Congressman Beto Albuquerque will be her running mate.

A poll released earlier this week showed that Silva had a better chance that Campos of beating incumbent Dilma Rousseff in the Oct. 5 presidential elections.

"Without Eduardo we have what always united us: the awareness of where we want to go together," Silva said at a press conference.

Campos died last Wednesday, along with six others, when a plane crashed in a suburb of the coastal city of Santos, USA Today reported. Campos, his campaign photographer, his press adviser and two pilots died in the crash.

Prior to his death, Campos was running third in the polls, behind both Rousseff and center-right candidate Aecio Neves. But this week's poll showed that Silva -- before she officially announced she would run -- had overtaken Neves and was gaining on Rousseff.

In the polls, Rousseff had 36 percent of the Brazilian vote, while Silva had 21 percent and Neves had 20 percent.

If these results were to happen in the October elections, it would require a run off election between Rousseff and Silva, which the polls showed Silva would win with 47 percent of the vote to Rousseff's 43 percent.

These poll numbers could indicate a sympathy vote following Campos' death, but Silva said she felt "a sense of responsibility, of commitment assured during the last 10 months of intense work, ready to honor the commitment and go forward with all of those that were building project with Eduardo."

Silva ran for president in 2010 as a member of Brazil's Green Party.