An American lawmaker Tony DeLuca has been re-elected into the Pennsylvania state house of legislators at the United States Midterm Elections despite passing away a month ago.

Mr DeLuca, a member of the Democratic Party, who had served in the state legislature for 39 years, died on October 9 following a battle with lymphoma aged 85.

By the time of his death, it was too late for Pennsylvania electoral officials to change his name on the ballot and subsequently contested in the election despite being deceased.

Surprisingly, DeLuca defeated his opponent Queonia “Zarah” Livingston of Green Party, garnering more than 85% of the vote in the Allegheny County district. A county dominated by Democratic voters.

A special election will be held soon to determine a new lawmaker for the county.

“While we’re incredibly saddened by the loss of Representative 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,” Pennsylvania House Democrats said in a tweet.