Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), a Tea Party favorite who made an unsuccessful run for president, has just encountered a slight complication in her re-election race to the House.
A judicial panel in Minnesota has released a new Congressional map for the state. The map shows that Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s hometown of Stillwater, which was previously near the border of her heavily Republican 6th District, has now been put into the St. Paul-based 4th District of Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum.
However, Bachmann tells the Star Tribune that she will run for re-election in the 6th, rather than the 4th, and thus avoid the member vs. member match against McCollum. Bachmann would likely have lost in her new home of the 4th District, while the 6th District is still mostly the same as it was before.
Bachmann also told the paper that she has not yet decided whether to move into the 6th District. But it should be noted that the United States Constitution only requires state-level residency, not district-level, for members of the House. And Bachmann could feasibly continue to run in the district she has represented for six years, even though her hometown is no longer included within it.
