Reality Check: Can Bachmann Still Run In The 6th District?
ST. PAUL (WCCO) -- Minnesota Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann says she has not decided whether she will move into the 6th Congressional District she has represented since 2006.
New boundaries released Tuesday put Bachmann outside the 6th Distrcit. But she's running in the 6th anyway, even though she doesn't live there. And it's completely legal.
It's TRUE.
The U.S. Constitution does not require members of Congress to live in the districts they represent.
The Constitution says only that Members of Congress must be:
-- 25 years old
-- A U.S. citizen for seven years
-- And a resident of their state
That's NOT THE WHOLE STORY.
Where politicians live is -- well, political.
All of Minnesota's eight members of Congress and two United States senators are legal state residents.
But Bachmann famously ran for President as an native Iowan, not a Minnesotan.
Al Franken moved to Minnesota from New York to run for the Senate.
And Congressman Chip Cravaack is a legal Minnesota resident -- but his family lives in New Hampshire.
It is unusual for members of Congress to live outside their districts, but it is not unheard of.
Here is what you NEED TO KNOW.
The Chief Clerk's Office of the U.S. House Of Representatives does not keep a list of how many of the 435 members of Congress live outside the districts they represent.
And there does not appear to be any independent research on the subject.
But nationwide news reports suggest there could be as few as four, and as many as eight.
And with once-in-a-decade redistricting plans taking shape across the country, many members of Congress could be forced to make a choice: Move to a new district, stay at the same address, or quit.
That's Reality Check.
Here are some of the sources we used for this Reality Check:
Bachmann Biography
The United States Constitution
Minnesota Redistricting Documents, Maps
http://www.mncourts.gov/Documents/0/Public/Court_Information_Office/2011Redistricting/A110152Order11.4.11.pdf
http://www.mncourts.gov/Documents/0/Public/Court_Information_Office/Redistricting2011Final/Minnesota_Congressional_Districts_2012_and_2002_Comparison.pdf
http://www.mncourts.gov/Documents/0/Public/Court_Information_Office/Redistricting2011Final/Minnesota_Congressional_Districts_2012_and_2002_Comparison.pdf
Secretary of State Election Maps
U.S. House Chief Clerk's Office
Members of Congress in other states
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/mobile/53456252-90/congressional-constitution-district-districts.html.csp
http://uspolitics.about.com/b/2008/11/03/about-residency-requirements-for-congress.htm
