WASHINGTON – A Republican candidate was elected to the state legislature in North Dakota despite the fact that he died a month earlier of the coronavirus, officials said yesterday.
David Andahl, a farmer and businessman, died on October 5 at the age of 55 “after a short battle with Covid-19”, his family said on the Facebook page of his campaign for the local assembly.
“He has been a public servant for many years, and was looking forward to the opportunity to serve in the state legislature,” said the family’s statement.
That ambition was fulfilled posthumously when the former race-car driver was elected to North Dakota’s eighth congressional district with a third of the votes, winning the last race of his life.
Faced with a deceased elected official, the attorney-general of the rural northern state said the situation will be treated in the same way as a legislator stepping down or retiring, and that the local Republican Party will name a replacement.
It was not the first time in recent US history that a dead candidate has won election.
In 2018, well-known brothel owner Dennis Hof was elected to the Nevada assembly on a Republican ticket a few weeks after his death. – AFP, November 5, 2020
