A New Jersey representative won his district's Democratic primary on Tuesday- he's unlikely to win the general election, however, because he died more than a month ago.
Donald Payne Jr., of New Jersey's 10th Congressional District, is the latest example of a candidate winning a race after their death.
Payne suddenly passed away on April 6 after being hospitalized following an accident. The congressman subsequently suffered from "medical complications due to diabetes and high blood pressure that led to subsequent cardiorespiratory arrest," his office said.
Payne served in the House for over a decade - first taking office after his father, who previously held the seat, died.
Payne's posthumous primary victory comes just one month after a similar incident in Indiana. Jennifer Pace, the Republican nominee for Indiana's 7th Congressional District, won her party's nomination with 31% of the vote in early May - even though the county was alerted of her death in late April.
"It's incredibly unusual. It's unfortunate. I feel like it's uncomfortable, quite frankly," University of Indiana political science professor Laura Wilson told WTHR.
"There are times candidates pass away and they don't win. It's inconsequential. That's what makes this different. She's now selected as the winner, despite no longer being alive, and that complicates things quite a bit."
In 2022, Pennsylvania voters reelected Tony DeLuca after he died of cancer less than a month before the November election. Under Pennsylvania law, candidates cannot be changed once the state begins printing the ballots.
"The state has an election calendar that outlines dates for withdrawals, substitutions, etc. and all of those dates had passed when the Representative died," Allegheny County spokesperson Amie Downs told the Associated Press. "This is not the first time this has happened either."
While state and local laws vary, in many of these instances, the relevant seats or nomination slots are left open until a special election can be held. In New Jersey, there will be a special election to fill Payne's seat for the remainder of his term, while the state Democratic party will have to call a convention to pick a nominee.
There are some instances, however, of other politicians criticizing the practice of keeping a deceased candidate on the ballot. In 2022, Republican Dan Smith called on the San Diego County Democratic Party to stop promoting his deceased opponent Simon Silva in a city attorney's race.
Smith objected to Silva' presence on the ballot, on the grounds that holding a subsequent special election would be a waste of money.
"Misinformation by perpetuating this fraud on the voters of Chula Vista is potentially causing the expenditure of millions of dollars, which is a substantial amount of taxpayer funds," he wrote to the county's Democratic Party, according to Newsweek.
Despite his demands, however, Silva won the election by less than 150 votes.
