Pennsylvania Democrat Wins State Seat Despite Dying a Month Ago

A legendary legislator in the Pennsylvania House won re-election in a landslide despite the fact he's dead.

By Wednesday afternoon, Anthony "Tony" DeLuca received more than 86% of the vote in the 32nd Legislative District. The Allegheny County politician was the longest-serving representative in state history.

The 85-year-old Democrat died on Oct. 9 after battling cancer, and there wasn't enough time to redo and reprint state ballots, election officials said.

“While we’re incredibly saddened by the loss of Rep, 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 in a tweet.

“A special election will follow soon.”

Despite the explanation given by election officials, there was still speculation that something was very wrong with voting tallies. 

“You got dead people voting and dead people winning," read one Twitter post. “You can’t make this up, America’s elections are a hot mess.”

DeLuca's opponent, Green candidate Queonia “Zarah” Livingston, received more than 14% of the vote, and a special election will be scheduled at a later day.

Still, Livingston was not well pleased, tweeting reminders days after Tuesday's election that she was the living candidate from the race. 

"Voting 'safe' means because people in my district decided to vote for the guy that is now deceased; to honor his legacy. We now have no one in our district, to represent us at all until the special election is over. I would love for someone to tell me how this is better??" she posted.

Related Stories