Many voters do not realize that members of Congress do not have to live in the district they represent.

Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution requires members of the U.S. House to be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen for at least seven years and inhabitants of the state in which they are elected. They do not have to live in the district in which they are elected.

In our three local congressional races this year, two Republican candidates were nominated despite living outside of their districts. Now, however, both have moved.

Republican Dan Meuser moved about a mile and is now just inside the 9th Congressional District. Because of the redistricting of the state’s congressional districts earlier this year, Meuser wound up on the other side of the district line.

Meuser’s campaign tried to put a positive spin on the move, saying that the candidate literally has gone the extra mile in his quest for the congressional seat.

Fellow Republican John Chrin, who lived in the Lehigh Valley, is the nominee in the 8th District. He was set to run in the old 17th District to challenge incumbent Democrat Matt Cartwright. The two remain their parties’ nominees, except now they are running in the 8th District. After winning the nomination, Chrin moved to Barrett Township, Monroe County.

Despite these moves, Democrats are attempting to label both candidates as “carpetbaggers,” meaning that they changed residences for purely political reasons. While that might be an effective strategy under normal circumstances, it is unlikely to make much of a difference in these races this year since the candidates were redistricted into areas where they did not live.

That didn’t stop the Carbon County Democratic Executive Committee from passing what comes off as a tongue-in-cheek resolution welcoming Meuser to the district and authorizing the committee secretary to send him a map of Pennsylvania so he can “find his way around the district.” The resolution refers to Meuser as the “Republican carpetbagger.”

The sprawling 9th District includes Carbon, Schuylkill and Columbia counties and parts of Berks, Luzerne, Montour, Lebanon and Northumberland counties. Meuser had been living in Kingston Township, Luzerne County, which wound up in the 8th District after redistricting. Meuser and his wife bought a unit in the Newberry Estates development in Dallas, Luzerne County, for $210,000, according to a deed filed in August at the county courthouse in Wilkes-Barre.

Before the redistricting change, Meuser was planning to run for the 11th District seat being vacated by incumbent Republican Lou Barletta, who is challenging incumbent Democrat Bob Casey for a U.S. Senate seat.

Chrin has made two moves within the Past three years. He originally moved from New Jersey to Northampton County, where he established state residency, one of the requirements for a run for office. Northampton County was part of the old 17th District, but no longer.

In May, about two weeks after the primaries, Chrin bought a town house in Monroe for $256,000, according to a deed filed at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg.

The newly redistricted 8th District includes all of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike counties and parts of Luzerne and Monroe. The rest of Monroe is in the new 7th District with Northampton and Lehigh counties.

Meuser, who served as state Revenue Secretary from 2011-15, is president of a scooter company. His opponent, Democrat Denny Wolff, is a Columbia County dairy farmer who was state agriculture secretary from 2003-09.

Chrin is a former investment banker with Goldman Sachs and is now an adviser with an investment advisory firm founded by his wife. Before being sworn into his first House term in 2013, Democrat Cartwright served as a partner in the law firm Munley Law in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com