United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania, 1991
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The 1991 United States Senate Special election in Pennsylvania was held on November 5, 1991. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Harris Wofford won the special election that was held because of the death of Republican Senator John Heinz on April 4 of that year. Wofford was appointed by Governor Bob Casey to serve as Senator until the special election which he subsequently won. Major-party candidates for this election were chosen by party committees, as the vacancy had happened too late for a primary to be held.
House Majority Whip William H. Gray was a potential candidate for the Democrats, but he declined to run and surprisingly resigned from Congress in 1991 to serve as President of the United Negro College Fund from 1991 to 2004. The move was considered a complete surprise and prompted questions as to why he had done so. There was widespread speculation that he had been the subject of an investigation into alleged campaign finance irregularities and a grand jury investigation into his church's financial dealings. He was reported to have struck a deal with Republican Dick Thornburgh, the United States Attorney General and former Governor of Pennsylvania, that he would not run in the special election and in return Thornburgh would drop the investigation into him. Thornburgh went on to run but lost in an upset to Democrat Harris Wofford.
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