[EL] winning in Congress but not living in the district

Sun Feb 26 06:42:47 PST 2012

Regarding Rob's aside on at-large seats, such seats were used far beyond Hawaii and New Mexico after the 1842 MMD ban.  The following states used at-large seats and districts beyond the immediate post-apportionment election:

Pennsylvania used multiple at-large seats in conjunction with districts from 1883-1889, 1903-1913, and 1913-1923.
Illinois used at-large seats in addition to districts from 1863-73 and 1913-43.
Texas used at-large seats and districts from 1913-1919, 1953-59, and 1963-67.
Connecticut: at large and districts 1903-1913 and 1933-65.
Ohio: at-large and districts from 1933-53 and 1963-67.
New York: at-large and districts from 1933-45.
Colorado: at-large and districts from 1903-15.
Maryland: at-large and districts from 1963-67.
Oklahoma: at-large and districts from 1933-43.
Kansas: at-large and districts from 1883-1907.

Ronald Keith Gaddie
Professor of Political Science
Editor, Social Science Quarterly
The University of Oklahoma
455 West Lindsey Street, Room 222
Norman, OK  73019-2001
Phone 405-325-4989
Fax 405-325-0718
E-mail: rkgaddie at ou.edu
http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/G/Ronald.K.Gaddie-1
http://socialsciencequarterly.org
________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Rob Richie [rr at fairvote.org]
Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2012 8:22 AM
To: David A. Schultz
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] winning in Congress but not living in the district

Running for a district one doesn't live in initially is a relatively common phenomenon, especially in a post-redistricting year. Here is a link to a story from the Baltimore Sun from last month that indicate at least eight US House candidates in Maryland's congressional primaries this April don't have a residence in the district where they're running -- a product tied in large part to a particularly "creative" new map drawn last year.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-01-15/news/bs-md-candidates-address-20120115_1_candidate-filings-8th-district-1st-district

To me, suggesting it matters whether one lives in a district of some 700,000 people is an attempt to maintain the general fiction that single-member districts have any real meaningful as units of representation despite the fact that we know that districts rarely are drawn with community coherence utmost in mind. II's just like no one seems to complain that the Winnipeg Jets (in Canada) are contending for the "Southeastern Division" in the National Hockey League, while the Nashville Predators are in the "Central Division". It's just setting up rules that are convenient.

Candidates and certainly winners of course also can establish temporary residences quickly -- I'm sure Michele Bachmann will find a way in Minnesota, just a Hillary Clinton did in shifting to New York State when she won her US Senate seat in 2006.

As a related aside, the 1842 federal mandate to use single-member districts was controversial when first passed (John Tyler signed it under protest, and a couple states successfully defied it that year) and it has come and gone over the years. It wasn't in place for almost four decades in the 20th century -- until the 1967 restoration of the mandate that forced New Mexico and Hawaii to go from at-large elections to districts. We have some history posted here:
http://archive.fairvote.org/library/history/flores/index.html

- Rob Richie

On Sun, Feb 26, 2012 at 8:51 AM, David A. Schultz <dschultz at gw.hamline.edu<mailto:dschultz at gw.hamline.edu>> wrote:
Can anyone give me an example of any individual successfully winning a seat in Congress yet not living within that district?  In the alternative, does anyone have examples of individuals running for Congress while living outside of it borders?

To the best of my knowledge I cannot find an example dating all the way back to 1842 when Congress mandated single-member districts for Congress.

Thank you.

David Schultz, Professor
Editor, Journal of Public Affairs Education (JPAE)
Hamline University
School of Business
570 Asbury Street
Suite 308
St. Paul, Minnesota 55104
651.523.2858<tel:651.523.2858> (voice)
651.523.3098<tel:651.523.3098> (fax)
http://davidschultz.efoliomn.com/
http://works.bepress.com/david_schultz/
http://schultzstake.blogspot.com/

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