A North Dakota state legislative candidate who died of coronavirus last month won his election

Republican David Andahl, who was 55 when he died, and another GOP candidate, Dave Nehring, were elected to represent the 8th district in the state’s House of Representatives in Tuesday’s election.

Andahl and fellow District 8 House candidate Nehring who both won the Republican’s endorsements and voters’ nominations defeated one of North Dakota’s most powerful lawmakers, Rep. Jeff Delzer, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

Andahl won about 35% of the vote to win the seat. 

Andahl died after being hospitalized with the illness for about four days, his mother, Pat Andahl, had told The Bismarck Times.

The mother said her son was “very careful” about the pandemic and eager to become an elected official in the country.

“He had a lot of feelings for his county … and wanting to make things better, and his heart was in farming. He wanted things better for farmers and the coal industry,” she said.

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