Marie Steichen

{{Short description|American politician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

Marie Steichen (died September 2006) was a Democratic politician from Woonsocket, South Dakota, who gained fame for winning a local election two months after dying of cancer. In the general election of November 7, 2006 she defeated, by a vote of 100 to 64, the incumbent Republican candidate Merlin Feistner for the post of commissioner of Jerauld County in the U.S. state of South Dakota.{{cite news |date=November 8, 2006 |title=Dead woman wins county race |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15622299 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241126164245/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15622299 |archive-date=2024-11-26 |access-date=November 10, 2006 |publisher=NBC News |agency=AP}}{{cite news |title=Dead woman wins local US election |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6133190.stm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606191045/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6133190.stm |archive-date=2023-06-06 |accessdate=November 10, 2006 |publisher=BBC News}}

This was the first time she had stood for election for political office. She and her husband Harold lived on a farm south of Lane, South Dakota. In the primary election, she had defeated Rick Easton of Wessington Springs by just one vote, 22–21.[https://archive.today/20120909014925/http://www.plainsman.com/main.php?story_id=9207&page=23 Plainsman Online]