Dead Democrat Wins Race in Pennsylvania

Anthony “Tony” DeLuca died last month, in the middle of his re-election race—which he won anyway, by a huge margin. DeLuca, 85 and the longest-serving state representative in Pennsylvania, died of lymphoma less than two weeks after the deadline to change the ballot, the Guardian reports. He was the choice of nearly 86% of voters, with Green candidate Queonia “Zarah” Livingston coming in second with 14% of the vote, the AP reports. A special election will be held to fill the seat, which will be vacant until then. A date has not yet been set.

"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,” the Pennsylvania House Democratic campaign committee said. DeLuca had represented the state’s 32nd Legislative District for 39 years. Some were posting about his re-election on social media as an example of voter fraud, despite no evidence of that. "Under Pennsylvania law, there was no way to remove Rep. DeLuca from the ballot," says a rep from the aforementioned committee. Adds an Allegheny County spokesperson, "This is not the first time this has happened either." (In fact, here's another example from 2018.)