Third-party candidate Paula Overby, who was in a competitive race for the congressional seat in Minnesota’s 2nd District, died Wednesday of heart complications, Overby’s son confirmed WCCO CBS Minnesota.

WCCO reporter and anchor Esme Murphy was scheduled to interview Overby on Tuesday, Murphy said in tweetand after the Marijuana Legal Now candidate failed to show up, Murphy was told that Overby was hospitalized.

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(by Paula Overby)

Overby, who was involved in the Legal Marijuana Now party, died about a month before the midterm elections. The Minnesota Secretary of State’s office will not delay the election and Overby’s name will remain on the ballot.

Republican challenger Tyler Kistner is suspending his campaign for the next two days out of respect for the Overby family. “This is a very sad day for Minnesota’s Second District,” Kistner said in a statement. “Paula Overby cared deeply about our country and the principles she believed in. It was an honor to meet Paula during this campaign.”

In a strange coincidence, this is the second consecutive congressional election in which a candidate for legal marijuana in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District has died right before the general election. In September 2020 Adam Weeks is dead, apparently from an accidental fentanyl overdose. After his death, Art This is reported by the Star Tribune that before he died, Weeks left a voicemail to a friend saying that Republicans had recruited him to run only to take votes away from Democratic Rep. Angie Craig.

The 2nd District, which covers the suburbs south of Minneapolis, is rated a draw by the Cook Political Report.

Aaron Navarro contributed to this report.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paula-overby-dies-marijuana-legal-now-third-party-congressional-candidate-minnesota/