Rep. Thomas Massie was elected to the House during the Tea Party movement, and he’s emerged as a powerful force over the last decade. He sits on the powerful Rules Committee, plus the newly created Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government.
However, the Kentucky Republican is running in an unexpectedly nasty primary… and he may need to leave the race after a ruling on residency requirements.
Local media expect a state judge to issue a ruling on Friday.
The primary challenger, attorney Eric Deter, sued on Feb. 22. In the lawsuit, Deter accused Massie’s candidate filing of containing an invalid signature from a witness.
In Kentucky, a Republican candidate for U.S. House must collect signatures from two registered Republicans in his or her district, according to The Washington Times.
Deters said that TJ Roberts, Massie’s witness, was living outside the district address listed on Massie’s filing.
Roberts reportedly suffered a house fire at his permanent address late last year, and he’s rebuilt it since then.
In a motion, Roberts testified that he stayed with his mother-in-law for only five months in the same district and that he visited his house every day from November to January “to check mail, feed the animals [and] check on construction progress.”
Roberts also recalled an official’s advice to list his permanent address “and not any temporary address.”
However, Deters accused Roberts of failing to establish residence there in time to serve as a witness on a candidate filing.
Massie filed his own motion requesting judicial screening for any future motions by Deters. He described Deters as litigious and bemoaned his “frivolous and self-serving actions” intended “to harass, cause needless delay, generate free press coverage, and increase the costs of litigation.”
“I think we will get a protective order,” Massie’s lawyer, Christopher Wiest, told The Washington Times. “And an order that Congressman Massie’s filing petition is good… Depending on Deters‘ antics in court, there is a chance he could end up in jail for contempt (the judge is no nonsense).”
Massie’s team told local media that they expected a Friday ruling on the residency, but not on the protective order.
On March 1, Deters filed a motion to dismiss Massie’s motion for sanctions. He is representing himself in court.
“My only comment is that I will be filing my response to their motion and I believe Thomas Massie out of 435 Congressional Members is going to regret being more careful choosing is (sic) witness to his nominating position. He messed it up,” Deters told the outlet Link NKY.
The Horn editorial team