NC Senate candidate claims Primary winner doesn’t meet residency requirements
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — State Senate candidate Lucille Puckett, who claims her opponent should have never been on the Primary ballot because he does not meet residency requirements, won her protest at the state level.
Now, the hearing goes back to the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections to decide Caleb Theodros’ residency. He was the top-vote-getter in the March Democratic Primary for N.C. District 41.
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The state requires state lawmakers to make their homes inside their districts for one year prior to the general election.
“This is the first time I’ve seen in quite some time for us to have it go this far,” said Michael Dickerson, director of the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections.
In March, Puckett came in second to Theodros by 2,000 votes, then filed a protest and won at the state level.
“They (N.C. Board of Elections) interpreted the information different than what my board did and said you at least need to have an evidentiary hearing,” said Dickerson.
Puckett says Theodros will not have lived in District 41 for a full year before the general election in November.
“This is not about me, this is about the people that you are wanting to represent in N.C. District 41, show your constituents that you are being ethical, that you are being transparent,” said Puckett.
Queen City News checked Theodros’ candidate filing form from December. It lists his home address on Hawthorne Lane, which is in the district, but his mailing address, Chansonette Court, is not.
Theodros refused an on-camera interview with QCN Thursday and instead released the following statement:
The allegations are false and baseless. I’ve lived at my current residence since July 2023, which is well before the cutoff date. In addition, the maps were drawn later in the year. It would have been impossible for me to move in anticipation of running for office.
In summary, I’m a resident of the district and have been long before the required deadline and I look forward to the Board of Election making the same determination.
Caleb Theodros
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The evidentiary hearing will be held on Tuesday, April 23, at 4 p.m. at the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections. The hearing is open to the public.
Dickerson says there will likely be an appeal to the state level and if ultimately at the end of the process, Theodros is found not to have properly met the residency requirement, there will likely be a new election.
The winner becomes the next state senator because there is no Republican challenger in the race.
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