Dennis Hof, who died last month at the age of 72, was laid to rest on Monday at Happy Homestead Cemetery in South Lake Tahoe, California—but that didn’t stop Nevada Republicans from electing the deceased, self-described “pimp” to the state assembly on Tuesday.
Attaching his nascent political career to Donald Trump’s political coattails and even branding himself “The Trump for Pahrump,” after the Nevada town he called home, the flamboyant Hof won the Republican primary to fill Nevada’s Assembly District 36 seat in June, ousting a three-term incumbent.
In the solidly red district, Hof was expected to win easily against Democrat Leisa Romanov, a local elementary school teacher, in Tuesday’s general election.
But then, on October 16, during his 72nd birthday party, he was found dead at his beloved Love Ranch brothel by his friend, the longtime porn performer Ron Jeremy. But according to his campaign manager, by passing away, Hof may have given his campaign a boost.
“There are a lot of Republicans who were uncomfortable voting for Dennis because of the nature of his business, and they now know that he is not the one who will be serving,” Chuck Muth said before the election. “They will feel much more comfortable casting the ballot for him knowing there will be another Republican to replace him.”
Under Nevada state election law, candidates who die after qualifying to be placed on the ballot must remain on the ballot, but if a deceased candidate wins an election, the state party to which he belonged selects a replacement to serve in office. The late Hof won the seat by a margin of more than 7,000 votes in the small, largely rural district.
Republican voters, according to responses solicited by The Pahrump Valley Times, simply did not want a Democrat to represent them under any circumstances, with one telling the paper, “a dead Republican beats a female Democrat any day.”
“His death made him a better candidate,” said another GOP voter. “I no longer had to wonder if he was really a Republican and my dislike for him personally was no longer a factor.”
After a festive memorial service on Saturday at a Carson City casino with 500 people packing the service, Hof was buried Monday in a small, private ceremony attended by just 15 mourners.
Daniel Dacumos / Wikimedia Commons
