TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Mar 15, 2022

The Tennessee House yesterday approved a bill that would implement residency requirements for all Republican or Democratic U.S. House or Senate candidates, the Associated Press reports. The legislation would require candidates be state residents for at least three years and residents of the county they would represent for at least one year – the same criteria imposed on state legislative candidates. The bill would only take effect after the November midterm and would not apply to incumbents. The state Senate last month passed a slightly different version of the bill, so both chambers must now decide on which version to adopt. It’s unclear if the legislation is legal under the U.S. Constitution, which says candidates be a citizen for at least seven years, at least 25 years old and an “inhabitant” of the state in which they want to be elected.