Yesterday, a formal complaint was filed with the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s (SOS) Office questioning the eligibility of senate candidate Jon Morgan (Democrat running in District 23) to even run for office. At issue is the fact that he hasn’t actually lived in the state for the required seven years before running for the New Hampshire Senate seat.
According to the law, all candidates who wish to run for the New Hampshire Senate must have lived in the state for seven consecutive years previous to the election. From the SOS’ page:
STATE SENATOR – Must be 30 years of age, a registered voter and domiciled in New Hampshire for at least 7 years. Must live in senate district they are a candidate for.
Every candidate has to provide an affidavit affirming their eligibility to run for office:
(For use by candidate for state senate): I, ________________, candidate for the office of senator from the __________ district, hereby swear (or affirm) that I have been domiciled in the state of New Hampshire for at least 7 years immediately preceding the election for which I am a candidate, that my domicile is in senatorial district no. _______________ at the present time, that I will be at least 30 years of age on the day of said election, that I am not a candidate for incompatible offices as defined in RSA 655:10, that I am not a federal employee, and that I am not a convicted felon who has not yet received a final discharge from sentencing.
At a Brentwood Candidate’s night, Morgan said he had lived in the state for the past 6.5 years. He was also questioned about his eligibility by a Democrat and called it a “gotcha question.” Why would this be a “gotcha question” if there is no issue with his eligibility?
After some investigation, the New Hampshire Republican Party sent out a press release which shows Morgan’s further ineligibility to run for office:
1) Morgan moved back into New Hampshire when he bought his principal residence on June 4, 2012
- Source: Rockingham County real estate transfers since 2009, Seacoastonline.com,http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=PUBLICRECORDS07
2) A letter from a supporter in the Carriage Towne News confirms stated that he “grew up in Manchester and returned to New Hampshire in 2012 with his wife Katie”.
- source: “Cyber Security Talk”, Carriage Towne News, February 1, 2018
3) Mr. Morgan voted in the 2012 General Election (November 2012) in New Hampshire, in Brentwood
Mr. Morgan did not vote in 2012 state primary in New Hampshire
Mr. Morgan did not vote in 2012 presidential primary in New Hampshire
Nor, did Mr. Morgan vote in any of the 2010 elections in New Hampshire, for he was registered to vote in the Commonwealth of Virginia
You can watch in the video from the Brentwood Candidate Night below:
One of the key components to Morgan’s eligibility is that he gave up his “domicile” of New Hampshire (he previously lived in the state) when he registered to vote in Virginia. As a result of that, the clock of time lived in the state “re-starts” so to speak and he would have had to have moved here prior to 2012 and would have had to register to vote in New Hampshire prior to that time as well.
It appears that Morgan is not eligible to run for the New Hampshire Senate seat that he is seeking. Voters in District 23 should beware. If Morgan is actually elected, the New Hampshire Senate will have to rule on his eligibility and they will have to rule that he is ineligible, which will cause a special election to take place, wasting taxpayer money because Morgan knowingly ran for an office he wasn’t eligible to run for yet.
Democrats should vet their candidates better before spending thousands of dollars on trying to buy them into office.
UPDATE: The Morgan campaign is now claiming the question of his eligibility is a “smear campaign” while Morgan supplied a photo that claims he registered in September of 2011. If it was that easy of an answer, why did he call it a “gotcha question” when a fellow Democrat asked him and why didn’t he simply just answer the question?
You can see his response at his website.
