One of the Republican candidates for Senate in Louisiana has filed a formal complaint with local prosecutors asking them to look into whether Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) meets residency requirements to appear on the ballot in November because she’s registered to vote at her parents’ home in New Orleans.
The complaints were filed by Rob Maness, a longshot candidate who’s been trailing behind Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Landrieu in the race for U.S. Senate. Maness’s decision on Friday to ask district attorneys in Orleans, East Baton Rouge, St. Tammany, and Ouachita parishes to investigate Landrieu’s residency follow a Washington Post report a day earlier noting where Landrieu is registered to vote.
“The Constitution, Louisiana law and common-sense says candidates for Senate have to live where when they qualify —all of the evidence shows that Mary Landrieu doesn’t live here,” Maness said in a statement.
Landrieu also owns a residence on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C.
Republicans were quick to capitalize on the initial Washington Post report and argue that the situation is more than a little similar to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) whose residency came into question after The New York Times reported that that Roberts, who has a house in Virginia, uses an address of two of his donors when he needs to in Kansas.
The initial Post report did note that Landrieu, also own two plots of undeveloped land nearby.
Louisiana’s “Jungle primary” system means there are no separate primaries for Democrats and Republicans. Instead, if no candidate can get more than 50 percent of the vote on November 4th there is a runoff between the top two candidates. Maness, who is aligned with the tea party and backed by the Senate Conservatives fund has polled well below Cassidy and Landrieu in the race.
The TPM Polltracker average gives Landrieu a 17 point lead over the other Senate candidates.