Calling Your Opponent a Robot Impostor Isn't a Winning Election Strategy

The robots have won: An Oklahoma Tea Party candidate for Congress who professed that he "is not a robot," "will never use a lookalike," or "artificial intelligence" in office was handily beaten by the incumbent, 10-term Rep. Frank Lucas in the state's Republican primary.

Is Lucas a robot or impostor? I can't say for sure—don't know the guy. But Lucas' challenger, Timothy Ray Murray, claims that Lucas was executed by "The World Court" in Southern Ukraine back in 2011. Since then, Murray claims that Lucas has been replaced by a lookalike robot who has served in Congress and proceeded to campaign against Murray in the election.

"Rep. Frank Lucas, and a few other Oklahoma and other States’ Congressional Members were depicted as being executed by The World Court on or about Jan. 11, 2011 in Southern Ukraine. On television they were depicted as being executed by the hanging about the neck until death on a white stage and in front of witnesses," Murray wrote on his website. "We know that it is possible to use look alike artificial or manmade replacements, however Rep. Lucas was not eligible to serve as a Congressional Member after that time."

While there may be some computers currently running for Congress (or, at least, humans who promise to hand their votes over to an online voting platform), and there's an algorithm sitting on a board of directors in Hong Kong, we know of no lookalike human robot replacements that are advanced enough to fool the world into thinking its a lawmaker.

Murray, meanwhile, promises that, if elected, he would remain a human.

"I, Timothy Ray Murray, am a human, born in Oklahoma, and obtained and continue to fully meet the requirements to serve as U.S. Representative when honored to so," Murray's website says. I will NEVER use Artificial Intelligence look alike to voice what the Representative's Office is doing nor own a robot look alike."

That platform apparently struck a chord with a few thousand Oklahomans. On Tuesday, Murray was crushed by Lucas and another challenger, Robert Hubbard, but Murray managed to grab 3,442 votes anyway. The other 82 percent of the Republican voting populous went for Lucas. He'll face off against Democratic challenger Frankie Robbins in November—no word on his robot status.