The Nebraska Republican Party announced Tuesday that it is filing a legal challenge to the Senate candidacy of Democratic former Sen. Bob Kerrey, who recently moved back to the state and declared his candidacy for the seat from which he retired in 2000. It remains to be seen, however, whether this challenge will bear any fruit.
The state GOP alleges that Kerrey’s name should not be on the ballot, claiming that his voter registration was invalid and he is not a legal resident of the state. Nebraska Secretary of State John Gale, a Republican, issued an opinion containing critical language of Kerrey’s status, but declared that he met the U.S. Constitution’s requirements to be an inhabitant of the state on election day later this year.
“Whether in New York or Nebraska, the law still applies to Bob Kerrey and Secretary Gale’s opinion proves our challenge to Mr. Kerrey’s residency has merit,” state party chairman Mark Fahleson said in a press release. “This issue is too important to ignore and our legal challenge is justified to ensure the integrity of this election.”
Kerrey campaign manager Paul Johnson released this statement in response, with emphasis in the original:
“Republican leaders have unfortunately, but predictably, opted to take another senseless step to undermine the fair election process. It is an attempt to win by robbery what they would otherwise lose in an election. In the end, they will fail.”
Article 1, Section 3 of the United States Constitution says: “No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.”
