Millennials aren’t the only ones who live with their parents. It seems that Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) does too.
Republicans are considering challenging Landrieu’s eligibility to run for office, easily claiming that she no longer lives in the state and has become a creature of Washington.
Landrieu and her husband built a $2.5 million brick home in Washington, D.C., where she lives when Congress is in session. The Washington Post reports that when Landrieu filed her Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission in January, she listed the Capitol Hill home as her residence. But she is registered to vote using the address of the New Orleans bungalow where her parents have lived for several decades and this is the residence she lists when qualifying for the ballot in Louisiana.
Landrieu’s leading Republican opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy (La.) believes that this demonstrates that Landrieu is not a resident of Louisiana and that she merely uses the state to get elected.
“Let’s call it what it is: She doesn’t live in New Orleans,” Cassidy told the Post. “She has an address she uses for voting purposes. . . . She literally no longer lives here. She belongs in Washington, D.C. She just chooses Louisiana to get reelected.”
Another challenger, tea-party-aligned Rob Maness (R) wrote to Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler (R) last week asking him to investigate Landrieu’s residency status. Louisiana’s Election Code requires that a Senator be an inhabitant of the state at the time of their election, but does not adjudicate residency unless it is challenged in court.
“A U.S. senator shouldn’t be living with their parents,” Maness said to the Washington Post. “She’s got plenty of good pay, she’s employed, but she says she’s living with her parents? . . . It’s time for one of us from the state of Louisiana to go fill this seat.”
Maness is considering taking legal action.
Landrieu defended herself in a statement Thursday, saying, “I have lived at my home on Prieur Street most of my life and I live there now, when not fulfilling my duties in Washington or serving constituents across the state.”
The threatened lawsuit merely adds additional drama to an already tight race. Perhaps it’s best to just ask the neighbors.
“I don’t think she lives there,” Fontaine Wells, who lives down the street from the elder Landrieus, told the Washington Post. “She might come visit, but come on now — she lives in D.C. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her.”
