Dead woman wins Republican primary for US House race in Indiana

A dead woman has narrowly won the Republican primary race for a U.S. House district that represents most of Indianapolis, jeopardizing the party's chances of winning the general election in November against Democratic incumbent Rep. André Carson.

On Wednesday, the AP declared that Jennifer Pace had won the Republican primary race for District 7, narrowly edging out second-place finisher Army Lt. Catherine Ping by fewer than 330 votes. The only problem is that Pace suddenly died of a heart attack sometime in March after the deadline to change the ballots had already passed.

"No one knew she was dead."

The state chair of the Indiana Republican Party will convene a caucus of precinct committee members from District 7 to settle on a replacement candidate in accordance with Indiana Code, GOP spokesperson Griffin Reid indicated to the New York Post.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that Ping ought to get the nod since she lost to Pace by just a few hundred votes.

However, Ping has a history of losing political races in this district. In fact, according to Ballotpedia, Ping has represented the Republican Party in the District 7 House race twice — in 2014 and 2016 — and lost both races handily to Carson. In 2014, Carson won 55% to 42%, and in 2016, Carson won by a whopping 24 percentage points, 60% to 36%.

There are also signs that the state Republican Party was not prepared to address the issue about the District 7 primary race since leaders apparently weren't made aware of Pace's death until recently. When the Washington Examiner contacted the party to verify that Pace had died, Griffin Reid told the outlet: "It is our understanding that, that is accurate." Reid added that the party was not aware of the cause of death.

At least one X user purporting to live in the district claimed local media had kept the news under wraps as well. "No one knew she was dead," said the account called TwoLegs. "Last week I researched the candidates online. I read their websites and questionnaire responses. I googled them. No mention of her death. No obituaries. Given her responses I strongly considered voting for her. Local media failed again."

Meanwhile, Carson sailed through the Democratic primary with 91% of the vote. Carson first won the seat via special election in 2007. The seat was previously occupied by Carson's grandmother Julia Carson.

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