The Pennsylvania congressman who died a month ago but swept the election and took 86% of the vote

Tony DeLuca, a state representative from Pennsylvania, was reelected on Tuesday to the House of Representatives of that state with an overwhelming majority. But the candidate will not be able to occupy his seat again because he died a month ago from cancer.

Democrat Tony DeLuca He passed away on October 9 at the age of 85. due to complications of lymphoma. At the time of his death it was already too late to modify the ballot papers, so his candidacy continued to appear on Tuesday, November 8, the day of the election.

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Trevor Southerland, executive director of the Democratic Campaign Committee of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, told the AP agency that “according to the law of Pennsylvaniathere was no way to remove the representative DeLuca of the ballot”. He added that once the ballots begin to be printed, it is impossible to withdraw candidacies.

Tony DeLuca passed away from lymphoma last October.

Tony DeLucawho had been running for 20 years for constituency 32 of Pennsylvania for the House of Representatives of that state, was re-elected with 86% of the votes.

In the last elections, no Republican representative rivaled DeLuca. His only opponent was Green Party candidate Queonia Livingston, who received 14% of the vote.

Queonia Livingston ran on a left-wing platform under three main propositions: environmental justice, end the war on drugs and reduce gun violence.

Tony DeLuca’s career

During his tenure as representative, Tony DeLuca he fought for the rights of patients before insurance companies, also to hold medical professionals accountable in case of negligence. She openly promoted cancer awareness campaigns and encouraged increased funding for local cancer research. All this after his first diagnosis of lymphoma and his late wife’s diagnosis of breast cancer.

Tony DeLuca was re-elected despite dying in October after a battle with lymphoma. (Photo: Rep. Anthony DeLuca’s Facebook page.)

He sponsored more than 100 bills during the 2021-22 legislative session and voted remotely on bills until just days before his death.

According to Univision, Tony DeLuca was a resident of Penn Hills for over 60 years. He got his start in politics by serving on the Penn Hills Government Study Commission, then was a five-year Penn Hills councilman, followed by two years as Penn Hills deputy mayor before run for his legislative seat and defeat the Republican incumbent.

He is a graduate of Westinghouse High School and the Community College of Allegheny County. He had four children, nine grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. In addition to his late wife, he was preceded in death by his brother Larry and his parents.

What will happen now with the vacant seat? According to the electoral law of Pennsylvaniaautomatically a new election must be carried out whose date has not yet been set.

“We are terribly sad to have lost Rep. Tony DeLucabut we are proud to see that voters continued to show their trust in him and their commitment to democratic values ​​by posthumously re-electing him.”tweeted the leadership of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania.

Antecedent

This is not the first time that a candidate has won an election despite having died. In 2018, the owner of the brothel, Dennis Hoffwon a seat for the Republicans in the Senate of Snowfalldespite having died a month earlier.

This June 2016 photo shows Dennis Hof at his Moonlite brothel near Carson City, Nevada. (AP).

Unlike Pennsylvania, his victory did not force a special election. Under Nevada state law, county officials could appoint a Republican to fill Dennis Hof’s place for his entire term.

Source: Elcomercio