The man behind the theory of natural selection has just come second in an election for a seat in the US House of Representatives. Not bad for someone who's been dead for 130 years

Age: 73, when he died in 1882.

Appearance: Down-on-his-luck department store Santa.

Profession: English naturalist, author of On the Origin of Species, developer of the theory of natural selection, congressional also-ran.

Also-ran? Darwin once came second in an election for a seat in the US House of Representatives.

I never knew that. When did this happen? Last week.

But he's dead! He wasn't alone there. A dead man was elected to the Texas senate last Tuesday. Another dead guy was voted city council president of Rochester, Minnesota, and yet another won a seat on a county commission in Alabama.

OK – but he's not even an American citizen. He wasn't on the ballot either. Nevertheless, Charles Darwin received more than 4,000 write-in votes in Athens-Clark County, Georgia. The numbers from the other 24 counties in the 10th congressional district were not available at the time of writing.

Could he still win? It's unlikely. The incumbent, Republican Paul Broun, received more than 209,000 votes.

And the Democrat? Broun was running unopposed. The write-in campaign was sort of a protest.

But why Darwin? It has to do with a speech Broun gave to a church group in September in which he denounced both evolution and the big bang theory, as "lies straight from the pit of hell".

So he credits Satan with the theory of natural selection? He also said he believed the Earth is 9,000 years old, and was created in six literal days.

Perhaps his remarks were misinterpreted. There's a video of him saying it, standing in front of a wall of mounted deer heads.

I've said it before – that America is one crazy place. It gets worse – Broun is a qualified doctor, a climate-change denier and a member of the House committee on science, space and technology.

Do say: "It's shameful that in this day and age such a politician even exists."

Don't say: "Poor show, Darwin. In America, being dead is no excuse for being second best."