I have seen this sort of oddball result before. When a statewide primary contest gets little attention from the press and the candidates have little to spend on their campaigns, voters are grossly uninformed and tend to pick the first name on the ballot that seems acceptable. For that reason, Florida Republicans once picked a dope with the name Ron Howard as their candidate for state Education Commissioner instead of a superbly qualified former President of Florida State University who appeared further down on the ballot.
Very true, Rockingham.
That’s what got the Harrisburg town drunk elected to office in PA. His name just happened to be Bob Casey, like the former governor.