By Melanie Wilcox, reprinted from dailycaller.com, June 7th, 2025

A tweet from Kamran Fareedi, a Virginia Democratic operative, revealed that he received fundraising emails from the campaign of Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly after the congressman had passed away. Fareedi described the emails as “beyond unethical.”

Rep. Connolly, who represented Virginia’s 11th congressional district, died earlier this year. Following his death, his campaign apparently continued sending emails to supporters and constituents.

“For those unfamiliar, former Connolly campaign operatives are trying to coronate his former Chief of Staff as the successor to Connolly’s congressional seat, who would probably hold the office and rule over Fairfax County constituents for the next few decades,” Kamram posted.

“Meanwhile, whoever is controlling the Gerry Connolly campaign infrastructure is using it to try and secure James Walkinshaw the nomination,” he continued.

“Seems incredibly unethical and disrespectful to the deceased,” he finished.

Connolly passed away at 75, just weeks after revealing that his esophageal cancer had returned, despite undergoing intense treatments since his 2024 diagnosis, People reported.

He had announced that he plans to step down from his role as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee — a position he had held since January after winning an internal vote over Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Newser reported.

Before Gerry passed, he wrote a letter to his constituents expressing his hope that we would elect his Chief of Staff James Walkinshaw to carry the torch.

This raises questions about how political campaigns manage digital outreach and automated email systems after significant events such as the death of a candidate. It also highlights the potential for communication errors when automated fundraising messages are sent without proper updates.