Missouri voters narrowly elected their deceased governor, Mel Carnahan, to the Senate on Tuesday, making him the first person to win a Senate seat from the grave.
In one of the most bizarre episodes in US politics, Mr Carnahan, who died in a plane crash last month after it was too late to remove his name from the ballot, defeated the incumbent Republican, Senator John Ashcroft.
The Senate seat is likely to be taken by Mr Carnahan's widow.
Jean Carnahan thanked supporters and expressed "joy and gratitude" at their efforts to reelect her husband.
"The mantle has now fallen on us", she told supporters. "Let us pledge to each other that we will never let the fire go out."
Mel Carnahan won on a wave of sympathy from voters shocked by his death in the October 16th crash, which also killed his son and an adviser as they travelled to a campaign function.
At first, after Mr Carnahan's death, political experts believed Mr Ashcroft would easily win the Senate seat. But bumper stickers sprouted around Missouri bearing the words "I'm still with Mel" and Democrats released a TV ad featuring Jean Carnahan calling on the state's voters to keep Mel Carnahan's vision "alive".
Mr Ashcroft suspended campaigning after Mr Carnahan's death, cancelling ads and appearances. But he resumed after polls showed continued strong support for Mr Carnahan.
Carnahan campaign workers welcomed the victory, but said it was bittersweet.
"It has clearly been a emotional three weeks for us", said Carnahan campaign spokesman Tony Wyche. "All of us would gladly take a defeat if it meant we could have the governor back."
"He is dead, yes, but I could never see myself voting for Ashcroft", said Bryon Myers, a Kansas City resident, after casting his vote for Mr Carnahan. As Democrats celebrated, Republicans suggested that they might mount a legal challenge to try to overturn the victory. Voter fraud was a possibility at polls on Tuesday night, Republican legal advisers said.
Over the past three weeks a growing number of Republicans have questioned whether a dead man can legally win an election because he is no longer an "inhabitant" of the state from which he was elected, as is required by the US Constitution.
Although there is a long history of widows succeeding their husbands in US politics, Mr Carnahan's victory makes him the first deceased candidate to win election to the Senate, according to Senate historian Donald Ritchie.
At least three deceased members of the House have run for office and won, however.
In 1972, House majority leader Hale Boggs won his race unopposed after he was presumed dead when his plane disappeared over Alaska - coincidentally on the same date, October 16th, that Mr Carnahan died.
Democrat Nick Begich, who was travelling with Mr Boggs and was likewise presumed dead, also won.
And in 1962 California Congressman Clement Miller narrowly won a House race over Don Claussen three weeks after Mr Miller died in a plane crash.