Aisha Nozari
Democrat Anthony ‘Tony’ DeLuca was re-elected during this week’s midterms by a landslide.
The catch? DeLuca is actually dead, having passed away from lymphoma at the age of 85 on 9 October.
But the small matter of not being alive didn’t stop DeLuca - who was Pennsylvania’s longest-serving state representative - sweeping 85% of votes.
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According to The Guardian, because DeLuca died so close to the midterms, his ballot couldn’t be changed, nor could another candidate be put forward for his seat.
The Pennsylvania House Democratic campaign committee tweeted on Wednesday (9 November): “While we’re incredibly saddened by the loss of Representative Tony DeLuca, we are proud to see the voters continue to show their confidence in him and his commitment to Democratic values by re-electing him posthumously. A special election will follow soon.”
People were quick to express their shock that DeLuca had one, despite being dead, with one person writing: “Is this real???”
A second penned: “Yikes!” While a third said: “I’m sure he was a great man, but to not remove a deceased person from the ballot and have a successor seems a bit negligent.”
Other comments included: “Are you f******g kidding me? Dude is deceased!” and “I cannot believe this is real.”
DeLuca’s opposite, Green candidate Queonia ‘Zarah’ Livingston, scooped up 14% of the vote.
DeLuca spent 39 years of his life representing the 32nd legislative district of Pennsylvania and for the last 20 years served as the Democratic chairman of the House insurance committee.
He fought to hold medical professionals accountable and also for patients’ rights with insurance companies.
The Guardian also notes that DeLuca was an ‘outspoken advocate for cancer awareness’ and secured an increase in local cancer research following his first lymphoma diagnosis and his wife of 66 years’ breast cancer diagnosis.
During the 2021-22 legislative session, DeLuca sponsored over 100 pieces of legislation and just days before his death was still voting remotely on bills.
He isn’t the first candidate to win despite being dead.
Back in 2018, Dennis Hof - a brothel owner - won a seat as a Republican in the Nevada senate despite having shuffled off this mortal coil a month earlier.
However, Hof’s victory didn’t trigger a special election like DeLuca’s, because Nevada law allowed for another Republican to be appointed in Hof’s place.
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