A Pennsylvania Democratic Representative member, Anthony “Tony” DeLuca, won with 85% of the vote, a landslide victory, during the midterm elections last Tuesday. He won over Green Party candidate Queonia “Zarah” Livingston.
Unfortunately, he will not be able to continue in his seat as DeLuca passed away on October 9 from lymphoma. He died at the age of 85.
According to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, DeLuca’s death caused them sadness, but they are proud that his constituents had trust in him and how they have continuously re-elected to his office. DeLuca, who held the seat since 1983, is known to be Pennsylvania’s longest-running representative.
Because of DeLuca’s victory, several people called the election a fraud. According to one tweet, “You can’t make this up; America’s elections are a hot mess.”
However, due to the timing of his death, his name was not able to be removed from the ballots, which had already been printed. It also was not able to be replaced by another candidate. According to state laws, names of replacement candidates may only be submitted before ballot printing starts.
Spokesperson Amie Downs said, “The state has an election calendar that outlines dates for withdrawals, substitutions, etc, and all of those dates had passed when the Representative died.” She pointed out that it had already happened before. In 2018, a Republican, who died a month before the elections, won a seat in Nevada.
A special election is scheduled for December to determine who the voters will choose for the position.
DeLuca has once again proven that he is a winner, even in the afterlife.