Leonard Richards, convicted in 1982 of killing his half-sister May Wilson and lawyer Robert Stratton in 1987, is making a run for the US Senate seat in Minnesota.
The 75-year-old is serving a life sentence for both murders with no parole in the state's Stillwater prison.
The Star Tribune reports that it's legal in Minnesota for felons to run for office, so long as it is a federal seat.
Mr Stratton's sister told the Star Tribune she has been campaigning to keep Richards from running but was told by the secretary of states' office “they were aware of Richards’ conviction and could do nothing to keep him off the ballot.”
"One vote for this murderer is too many," she said.
A legal adviser for the Minnesota secretary of state's office told the Tribune that following a court ruling no agency could stop a prisoner from filing an "affidavit of candidacy".
"The only valid requirements are that you be of a certain age and that you live in the state on election day, essentially," he said.
This isn't the double murderer's first tilt at running for office. In 1992 and 1994 he unsuccessfully ran for the seat gaining 14,500 votes and 4,000 votes respectively.
