Image: Anthony "Tony" DeLuca, YouTube Screenshots

Pennsylvania House Democrats ‘Proud’ Of Voters for Re-electing Deceased State Representative

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Deceased Pennsylvania State Representative Anthony “Tony” DeLuca (D) was re-elected on Tuesday. PA House Democrats shared on Twitter that they were proud to see the posthumous election and that a special election will soon follow.

“While we’re incredibly saddened by the loss of Representative Tony DeLuca, we are proud to see the voters to continue to show their confidence in him and his commitment to Democratic values by re-electing him posthumously. A special election will follow soon.”

This isn’t the first time a person has been elected while being deceased. This normally happens when an official is seeking reelection and dies just before the election. DeLuca passed away on October 9th, about a month before the general election.

Voters, it seems were either unaware that he had passed or weren’t keen on having Zarah Livingston as their representative. Livingston ran under the Green Party and only received 3,490 of the nearly 25k votes cast in the election.

Now there will be a special election held to fill the vacant seat left by the results of the election.

DeLuca received 85% of the vote, he had represented Pensyvanias 32nd district since 1983. His posthumous elections spur a special election that will be held at a later date.

There is no clear evidence if voters knew they were voting for someone who was no longer alive or just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the Green party candidate.

DeLuca was a very active member of the Pennsylvania House sponsoring more than 100 pieces of legislation during the 2021-22 session and even voting on bills up to a few days before he passed away from lymphoma.

Kay Williamson
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