Rep. Paul Gosar shifts residence to Bullhead City after redistricting

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar says he now lives in Mohave County, putting his residence in Arizona’s newly redrawn 9th Congressional District as he runs for a seventh term.

Gosar’s nomination paper filed March 7 to run in the Aug. 2 primary election lists his residence as a Bullhead City condo that is a rental in a gated community, Today’s News-Herald reported.

Gosar listed Prescott as his residence for the past decade but the 2021 redistricting didn’t include the Yavapai County city in the heavily Republican 9th District.

Gosar “intends to make Mohave County his base of operations,” his office said in a statement Wednesday.

While opponents can try to make political hay out of a rival’s non-residency, the U.S. Constitution only requires that House members live in the states of their districts, not the districts themselves.

Gosar lived in Flagstaff when first elected in 2010, but he changed his residency to Prescott after the 2011 redistricting took Flagstaff out of his original district.

Coconino County online public records still list Gosar and his wife as owners of a Flagstaff-area home.

Fellow Republicans Sandra Dowling of Litchfield Park, Randy Kutz of Waddell and Adam Morgan of Kingman also filed to run for the 9th District seat.