Residency debate surrounds Republican congressional nominee Marty O’Donnell in Nevada

Marty O’Donnell, the Republican nominee for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, moved to the authorities five years ago for his grandchildren. “I would astir apt ne’er conscionable take to unrecorded successful Las Vegas retired of the blue,” he said on an occurrence of his podcast, “The Marty O’Donnell Show.” Democrats contend O’Donnell has not lived in the district long enough to understand the community’s needs. Incumbent Rep. Susie Lee, D‑Nev., has described Las Vegas as her home for 33 years. “It feels incredibly retired of interaction and peculiarly hypocritical erstwhile the Nevada GOP has often harped connected Nevada Democrats campaigning with Californians, erstwhile their Republican nominee for CD3 is surviving successful a $10 cardinal location successful Southern California,” said Molly Forgey, a Las Vegas‑based Democratic strategist. Democrats also note that O’Donnell — a composer known for his work on video games such as “Halo” — spends excessive time at a second residence in California, which they argue disqualifies him as a bona fide Nevadan. He calls that characterization an exaggeration, stating he has spent about three weeks at the property over the two years he has owned it, mostly during long weekends with his family and grandchildren. According to O’Donnell’s personal financial disclosure, the Summerland, Calif., residence is valued between $1 million and $5 million. This is not O’Donnell’s first bid for office; he lost the 2024 Republican primary for the 3rd Congressional District. This time he secured the primary victory in June, aided by an endorsement from President Donald Trump and backing from the National Republican Congressional Committee. VoteHub estimates his odds of unseating Lee in the general election at approximately 11%. O’Donnell said he felt compelled to run for office. “I told my kids growing up that I believe Congress should be similar community duty,” O’Donnell said. “You get called to serve, and when your time is up, you leave. It isn’t meant to be a career, so when I was approached about running, I knew it was something I was being called on to do.” The Constitution requires only that a candidate be an inhabitant of the state at the time of election, meaning O’Donnell’s five years of Nevada residency satisfy the legal threshold. Nevertheless, voters often prefer representatives who reside in the district they seek to serve, observed Sean Theriault, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “Someone who is running for office is simply a typical of the people who are voting in that election, and so usually voters think that the person ought to be from the country and be acquainted with the area,” Theriault said. O’Donnell traces his connection to Las Vegas to his daughter, Ali Caliendo, who founded the nonprofit Foster Kinship fifteen years ago. He was among the organization’s original supporters; the group assists Nevada children living with relative caregivers in finding safe, stable, and nurturing homes and has aided thousands of families statewide. His campaign reports that O’Donnell averages two to three events per week in the district since launching his run in March 2025, and he frequently meets one‑on‑one with constituents who request time to discuss issues. “We’ve had several just in the park, bring a large container of donuts, get coffee and invite people to come in,” O’Donnell said. “I just each the people … it’s a lot of fun.” O’Donnell is not the first legislative candidate in recent years to face criticism for maintaining a residence outside the state he hopes to represent. Former football star Herschel Walker, who lost his 2022 Republican bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, owned a $3 million home in Texas. Former U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows, R‑N.C., listed his primary address as a mobile home he never occupied; he sought to have his 2020 ballot sent to a Virginia residence, according to The New Yorker. The Washington Post reported in 2017 that more than twenty members of Congress lived outside the districts they represented. The Constitution does not mandate that House members reside in their districts, only that they reside in the state. Theriault attributed voter focus on partisanship rather than local presence to political polarization, calling