A candidate running for a Roseville-area Minnesota House seat is facing questions from his opponent about whether he lives in the district he hopes to represent.

Republican candidate for House District 40B Paul Wikstrom claims his Democratic-Farmer-Labor opponent Curtis Johnson does not live at the Roseville address he listed on candidate paperwork and still resides at his home in nearby Little Canada.

Johnson, a member of the Roseville School Board, has owned a house with his wife in Little Canada since 2017, and says he got an apartment in District 40B this spring. It’s about a mile and a half southwest of his family’s home. Legislative candidates must live in their district for six months before an election to be eligible to run.

Asked about the apartment early last week, Johnson initially declined to provide information on his residency other than an affirmation that he lived in Roseville and that he had signed a lease for the apartment in March.

“I’m gonna say this once and that’s all I’m going to say. I live in the district. I don’t know why he’s saying all this other stuff,” said Johnson, who hung up on the Pioneer Press when asked for more details.

At an Oct. 22 school board meeting he continued declining to answer questions about his residency.District includes Roseville, parts of Shoreview

Johnson and Wickstrom are vying for a seat held by outgoing DFL Jaime Becker-Finn of Roseville. District 40B includes Roseville and parts of Shoreview.

Johnson’s house in Little Canada is not listed for sale, though he has told other news outlets he and his wife intend to sell. In a statement issued to the Star Tribune last Friday, Johnson said he got an apartment on Rice Street in Roseville as he and his wife searched for a new house in the district, and he didn’t want to move his family before they found an ideal property.

Volunteers for Wikstrom’s campaign say they have been monitoring Johnson’s home and apartment over the past month or so, gathering video and photographic evidence they claim can prove Johnson never actually moved. Earlier this month they released a campaign advertisement featuring video of Johnson at his Little Canada address, implying he didn’t stay at his apartment.

“I feel that there is an ethical responsibility to inform the voters if we know,” said Wickstrom, adding he’s “very confident” his campaign has a case to substantiate that Johnson is a resident of Little Canada.

That evidence could be used to challenge Johnson’s eligibility in the Minnesota Supreme Court, though Wikstrom won’t say whether he plans to file a petition. He claimed it’s difficult to make any challenges in court once ballots are finalized and early voting has started.

Wikstrom said he suspected since May that Johnson didn’t live in the Rice Street apartment complex on his candidacy paperwork, but decided to look into it more after a voter whose door he knocked on told him it was rumored in local political circles that Johnson hadn’t actually moved to District 40B.

Past cases

Candidates have been removed from the ballot for residency reasons before. In 2016, the state Supreme Court disqualified Chisago County GOP Rep. Bob Barrett after activists gathered evidence that Barrett did not actually live in the Taylors Falls rental home listed on his candidate paperwork. To prove it, they visited the property 30 times over 15 days, the Pioneer Press reported at the time.

Because Barrett was disqualified less than 80 days before the election, state law required a February special election. Results of the election where Barrett’s name was on the ballot were nullified.

Candidates often fend off residency challenges, which aren’t uncommon in an election year. In 2022, GOP Sen. Torrey Westrom faced an unsuccessful challenge from an opponent who claimed he didn’t live in Alexandria. Redistricting that year meant Westrom’s original Elbow Lake home was no longer in his old district, so Westrom moved to avoid running against a fellow Republican senator.