Dead Brothel Owner Dennis Hof Wins Nevada Assembly Election

A brothel owner and reality television star who died at the age of 72 last month won the race for Nevada’s 36th Assembly District on Tuesday evening.

The late Dennis Hof, a Donald Trump-style Republican candidate, defeated Democrat Lesia Romanov in the contest.

The district is heavily rural, containing large desert areas in the southern region of Nevada. County officials say they will appoint a Republican to Hof’s seat.

Hof spent the days before his death attending parties celebrating his 72nd birthday. Porn actor Ron Jeremy discovered Hof’s body at the Love Ranch Brothel—which is an hour outside of Las Vegas—on October 16. Officials have not yet released a cause of death, but they do not think it was the result of foul play.

Hof gained his claim-to-fame by owning several brothels in Nevada, the only state where prostitution is legal. He began building his network of brothels when he bought the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in 1992 and proposed that the state should tax brothels.

The late Nevada brothel owner also had a presence in the entertainment world. He starred in HBO’s Cathouse, an adult reality show which followed the lives of his Nevada brothel workers, and took inspiration from Trump’s book The Art of the Deal to write a book called The Art of the Pimp.