Do I need to live in Medford to be a write-in Candidate for Mayor and presume I will be living in the corner office at 85 George P. Hassett Drive? Residency requirements in Congress The legal requirement that candidates and members of legislative bodies live in the place they represent is not new. In the case of Congress, it was debated heavily during the Constitutional Convention in 1787.
The framers decided that members of both the House and the Senate would be required only to be “an inhabitant” of the state they represent. Strange as it may sound, this means that House members don’t even need to live in their specific district – just their home state. In fact, a 2017 report from The Washington Post found that about 5% of all House members don’t live in the districts they represent. https://news.yahoo.com/tommy-tuberville-reportedly-doesnt-live-174440634.html Legal consequences for nonresidency In Tuberville’s case, it’s possible that he doesn’t meet the constitutional minimum of state residency. Whether he might face any consequences for this potential violation, however, is unclear. Courts and congressional committees have looked into similar violations in the past. They have generally opted for a wide interpretation of what is called “inhabitancy,” often settling for evidence that a member paid taxes in or was registered to vote in the state, even if it was at an address that the member spent little to no time in.
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