Brief by Central Staff
Politics – September 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Does it matter where Ken Chlouber hangs his hat?
He’s a state senator from Leadville, and he’s running for U.S. Congress from Denver. Several people have asked us how the veteran Republican lawmaker can do that, given that there are residency requirements for candidates.
We’ll start with his state senate seat, to which he was re-elected in 2000 from District 4, which included Leadville.
Article 5, Section 4 of the Colorado Constitution says that “for at least twelve months next preceding his election,” a senator must “have resided within the territory included in the limits of the county or district in which he shall be chosen.”
So, Chlouber was a Leadville resident for at least 12 months before the 2000 election; the constitution doesn’t say anything about after the election.
As for Congress, the U.S. Constitution does not require a representative to be a resident of his congressional district, just “an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.”
So Chlouber could have kept his Leadville residency while running for Denver’s congressional seat, now held by three-term incumbent Democrat Diana DeGette.
In general, though, it’s bad politics for a House candidate not to be a resident of the appropriate congressional district. That may explain why Chlouber’s residence is now listed on campaign documents filed with the Colorado Secretary of State as an apartment on Ogden Street in Denver.
Even if no Republican has won in the First District since 1970, Chlouber has attracted donations. There are some prominent Colorado names among the Chlouber contributors listed by the Federal Election Commission, including: William Armstrong, former U.S. Senator from Colorado, $500; Bruce Benson, GOP candidate for governor in 1994, $2,000; Terry Considine, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in 1992, $1,000; Denver Banker Will Nicholson, $1,250; and Bob Rawlings, publisher of the Pueblo Chieftain, $500.
