Age requirement for Congress, 25 by election or petitions?

Factual Questions
1

This will help a bet I made with a friend.

You must be 25 to be a congressman/woman… Do you have to turn 25 by when petitions are filed, the primary, the election, or when you take your oath?

Also, someone dropped a piece of info that I questioned… Aside from being a resident of a state, do you have to be a citizen of the congressional district? A friend of mine said that it does not matter residency in the congressional district as long as you fulfill the US citizenship requirements.

What about citizenship in a state? What is the requirement for that?

All these questions are about congress (US House of Reps) I understand the requirements are different in local legislatures and the Senate… /just to clarify

2

You need only satisfy the age requirement for any office when you take the oath for that office. Senator Joseph Biden was elected at age 29 (the requirement for the Senate is 30) but turned 30 before his term began.

Both Senators and Representatives must be “inhabitants” of the state which they represent. There is no requirement as to districts, although as a practical matter it’s hard to get elected where you don’t live.

3

The actual Constitutional text setting forth the requirements for serving as a Representative:

and for Senator:

4

At least one, and I think several, men have been elected to Congress before their 25th birthday, and could not take their seats in Congress until they turned 25. I’ll see if I can find some names.

5

Henry Clay was elected to the Senate and served for about four months despite being under 30.

6

The questions don’t make sense – citizenship is for the whole country. You don’t have seperate citizenship in a state or a district.

As far as residency, you have to be “an inhabitant” of the district (as Otto quoted). And “inhabitant” is not further defined in the Constitution.

In practice, most Congressmen/women make sure that they file income taxes within their district and are eligible to vote in their district. Usually, they buy or lease a house in the D.C. area, for economic reasons – it would be really expensive to stay in hotels given all the time they spend there. But most maintain an address in their home districts. Sometimes just an apartment they rent, or even the spare bedroom in their daughters house. But some residence in their district.

7

Otto’s quote says clearly that you have to be an inhabitant of the state, not the district.

This isn’t a nitpick: it’s the entire question.

8

Not so. U.S. citizens are also citizens of the State in which they are domiciled.

t-bonham, both your premise and answer were incorrect. Please do not accuse questioners of not making sense when you don’t have all the facts.

–Cliffy

9

Unfortunately this isn’t true in states with many congressional districts, especially when you have district lines that few residents are aware of splitting cities and counties. My congressman didn’t live in his district his first five years of office, a problem “solved” by shooting a tendril of the gerrymandered district up to one of the properties with his name on the deed in the 2002 redistricting.

In states with small populations the entire state is sometimes one district and the question is moot.

10

Here is some very interesting information on underage Senators which bears on some of the matters discussed in this thread.

11

Great link! Perfect…

Also, in regard to the question “Not making sense”:
Although it may have not been worded perfectly, I really don’t think it was that ambiguous of a question where we need to decide what the definition of “is”… is.

Everyone seemed to have no problem interpreting my question and did so with legitimate answers.

So… thank you!!