Staff Reports
Dead men may not tell tales, but occasionally they do win elections. Tony DeLuca, a Democrat and state representative from Pennsylvania, was re-elected to the state House on Tuesday even though he passed away from cancer in October at the age of 85.
DeLuca had served as the state's 32nd District's representative for 39 years, the last 20 of which he spent as the committee's minority chairman for insurance. The Pittsburgh Gazette reports.
DeLuca's victory was praised by the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee on Tuesday, and it was noted that his replacement would be chosen in a subsequent special election.
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. A special election will follow soon. pic.twitter.com/CfLnSCuvK9
— PA House Dems (@PAHDCC) November 9, 2022
Although it may seem strange to consider electing a deceased person, it has happened before. The Post Millennial noted:
And of course, three weeks after his passing in a plane crash in 2000, former Missouri governor Mel Carnahan won a seat in the U.S. Senate. John Ashcroft, a Republican senator, was Carnahan's opponent (who would later go on to serve as Attorney General under George W. Bush). In that case, Missouri's Lieutenant Governor Roger Wilson, who took over as Governor after Carnahan passed away, had previously indicated he would appoint Jean Carnahan as the new governor. Prior to a special election that resulted in the election of Republican Jim Talent, Jean Carnahan held the Senate post for two years.
A Trump supporter and brothel entrepreneur named Dennis Hof was posthumously voted to Nevada's State Assembly in 2018 despite not even being a sitting member, lest we think posthumous elections are biased.
Therefore, postmortem elections have occurred before. They're far superior to the election of some living, breathing individuals and, to be honest, less unsettling than the idea of dead people voting.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Red State.
