Democrat Tony DeLuca was reelected as a Pennsylvania state representative on Tuesday despite dying in October (Picture: Facebook)
A dead man was reelected to his position as a state representative during the US midterm elections.
Democrat Anthony ‘Tony’ DeLuca, 85, died of lymphoma on October 9, and election officials were not able to change the ballots in time, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Many voters chose DeLuca – who was the longest-running state representative in Pennsylvania at 39 years – over his Green Party challenger Queonia ‘Zarah’ Livingston.
DeLuca won on Tuesday with more than 85% of the vote. Livingstone garnered just over 14% of the vote.
‘While we’re incredibly saddened by the loss of Representative Tony DeLuca, we are proud to see the voters to continue to show their confidence in him and his commitment to Democratic values by re-electing him posthumously,’ tweeted Pennsylvania House Democrats.
‘A special election will follow soon.’
Livingston is a health care worker and community organizer whose main campaign promises were environmental justice, ending the war on drugs and reducing gun violence, her website states.
DeLuca sponsored more than 100 pieces of legislation in the 2021-22 session and voted remotely until a few days before he died. The Democrat served as the chairman of the House insurance committee for two decades. DeLuca battled off lymphoma twice before.
Pennsylvania state Rep Anthony DeLuca who died last month after a battle with lymphoma (Picture: Facebook)
While some voters were probably unaware that DeLuca had died, others ‘likely preferred the idea of a special election over electing the third-party candidate on the ballot’, tweeted PublicSource reporter Charlie Wolfson.
It is not the first time that a candidate has won a race posthumously.
In 2018, night brothel owner Dennis Hof won a seat in the Nevada senate with nearly 70% of the vote, despite dying the previous month at the age of 72. However, no special election was held to fill Hof’s spot because Nevada state law allowed county officials to appoint a Republican to serve out Hof’s whole term.
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Pennsylvania state Rep Tony DeLuca was reelected despite dying of lymphoma in October.
