2nd Congressional District election will not be postponed after candidate Paula Overby's death
MINNEAPOLIS -- The death of a woman running for congress in Minnesota's 2nd District has voters asking -- what's next?
Legal marijuana candidate Paula Overby died Tuesday of heart complications. She was running against incumbent Democrat Angie Craig and Republican Tyler Kistner. The last time this happened in 2020, it led to a legal battle.
The race is a rematch of Craig and Kistner's battle two years ago. In a highly-contested seat, spending on adds is easily expected to top $11 million.
In 2020, third party candidate Adam Weeks also died. Tyler Kistner pushed for the election to be moved to February, citing a state law requiring a special election if a major party candidate dies within 79 days of the election. The law was passed after the 2002 death of Paul Wellstone in a plane crash just 11 days before the election.
But two years ago a federal appeals court ultimately ruled that that state law did not apply to elections for federal offices like the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate.
The 2020 election between Craig and Kistner went on as scheduled and Secretary of State Steve Simon says that will happen again this year.
"We are just following the court order from then. The court order from then is in a federal contest like this nothing changes, so Ms. Overby's name will still be on the ballot," Simon said.
Simon says anyone who has already voted and wants to change their ballot can, and anyone in Minnesota for any reason can always claw back their vote up until one week before the election.
To do so, you can go to the local election office where you received your initial ballot form and request a do-over.
Simon says the law creating a delayed special election if a candidate dies does still apply when the election is for a state office. That would be races for governor, attorney general or the state legislature.
