Vice President Joe Biden congratulated a Republican from his home state for winning a state senate election, apparently not realizing that the man had dropped out of the race after his indictment for 113 felony counts of pedophilia.

“The President and I remain confident that, with your help, America’s best days lie ahead,” Biden said in the letter to Eric Bodenweiser, posted by The News Journal (Del.). The Biden letter also encourages Bodenweiser to reflect on “the future we have to secure for our children.”

Bodenweiser defeated a Republican incumbent in the primary but dropped out of the general election in October after the grand jury handed down an indictment.

“The charges come after Delaware State Police investigated information it received that Bodenweiser sexually abused a child,” the local NPR affiliate explained at the time. “The indictment charges Bodenweiser with sexually abusing a juvenile victim between October 1987 and August 1990.”

The News-Journal says that the note came as a form letter for the incoming state legislators.