Days After His Suicide, GOP Politician Wins Primary

NY voters are sticking with Bill Nojay
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2016 4:35 AM CDT
Dead Republican Wins NY Primary
A sign supporting deceased Assemblyman Bill Nojay is seen Tuesday in Pittsford, NY.   (Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat & Chronicle via AP)

The loyal Republican voters of New York state's 133rd District re-elected Assemblyman Bill Nojay on Tuesday, undeterred by accusations of corruption—or the fact that he's dead. The 59-year-old, who killed himself at his family's burial plot on Friday, won the Rochester-area district's GOP primary with a vote of around 58% to 41% for Honeoye Falls Mayor Richard Milne, Politico reports. It will now be up to party leaders in the district—who did not withdraw their endorsement after Nojay's death—to choose a candidate to be on the ballot, the Democrat & Chronicle reports.

Before the primary, local Republican leaders said voting for Nojay was a good way to honor his memory. Milne said they just wanted to get their own candidate elected. Politico notes that Milne is unlikely to be the choice of the local GOP both because of his moderate positions and the fact that he just lost an election to a dead man. The Guardian reports that Nojay—who had been accused of embezzling $1.8 million from a legal client, among other things—is the latest in a long line of dead American politicians to win elections, including Hawaii's Rep. Patsy Mink, a Democrat who was re-elected to the House more than a month after she died of pneumonia in 2002. (More New York state stories.)

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