A candidate for an open Texas Senate seat in Denton County has accused one of his opponents of being ineligible to run, claiming that he lives outside the district.
Cody Clark, a former Denton police officer running in the Republican primary for Senate District 30, made the accusation against opponent and former county GOP chair Brent Hagenbuch on social media Monday night — about an hour before the filing deadline for the 2024 primary.
In an interview with KERA News Monday night, Clark said he was made aware of the potential discrepancy shortly after announcing his run for the seat and has since tried to get answers from Hagenbuch, to no avail.
"When you look at the election code, quite honestly it's not particularly complicated," Clark said. "There's certain specifications, certain requirements you have to meet, and I don't feel like he met them."
Hagenbuch disputed the allegations in an email to KERA News.
"I am a resident of Senate District 30," he said. "I'm spending my time campaigning for stronger borders, parent rights and a robust economy."
Denton County appraisal records show Hagenbuch and his wife appear to own a home in Little Elm in Denton County. According to the state website Who Represents Me,that address is in District 12, not District 30.
KERA News could not confirm if the home was his primary address.
The District 12 address could also be found on a campaign finance report as recently as July 11.
But even if that was Hagenbuch's primary address at that time, he still might have been eligible to run in the Republican primary for the Senate District 30 seat. A candidate for Texas Senate must have lived in the district for at least 12 months before the general election to be eligible to run, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office website.
That means as long as Hagenbuch has lived in the district since Nov. 5, 2023, he is eligible to run. A copy of his voter registration obtained by KERA News shows an address in the district as of this month, but provided no information on when or if his address had been changed. The address is across the street from a business he owns, Titus Transport.
Hagenbuch did not answer questions about whether he lived at an address within District 30, and if so, for how long.
Clark himself could not confirm whether his opponent lived in the district before the Nov. 5 date and has asked the Texas Rangers to look into it.
"It's just doesn't pass the smell test," Clark said. "So I think the only way to go through it is to shine a light on it."
While it's not clear whether Hagenbuch is a full-time District 30 resident, what is clear is that such election challenges are about as common as elections themselves — and residency challenges in particular tend to crop up every election cycle.
But ineligible residency is also notoriously difficult to prove.
In fact, candidates who own a home or business may be able to legally claim that property as their residence even if they own multiple properties, according to reporting from the Texas Tribune. The outlet described residency as more of a "state of mind rather than a physical presence."
“You can claim as your residence wherever you intend to return to and live some day," Democratic political strategist Harold Cook told the outlet in 2018. "It’s not a question of where is the pillow that you lay your head on every night.”
Clark and Hagenbuch are among the candidates seeking to replace outgoing Texas Sen. Drew Springer, who announced last month he would not run for reelection.
Carrie De Moor, an emergency physician, also filed to run in the primary.
She did not respond to a request for comment Monday night.
Paul DeBenedetto is the managing editor for daily news at KERA. Got a tip? Email him at pdebenedetto@kera.org.
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