Residency questions about a state Senate candidate will be before a judge.
The residency of Marc Harman, a Republican candidate in the district currently being represented by Senator Jay Taylor, is being challenged in court.
Harman, reached by telephone, says he’s established a clear record of his residency in the district. “I’m absolutely confident,” he said.
The timing is messy. Early voting started Wednesday in the primary election.
“It’s really horrific” Harman said. “If they were going to bring this challenge they should have done it in a much more timely fashion.”
A hearing is set for Friday afternoon before Kanawha Circuit Judge Richard Lindsay, who is himself a former state senator.
The basis of Harman’s residency is being challenged based on filings suggesting he maintained his primary home in Kanawha County, with a petition citing tax records and a homestead exemption to contradict his more recent voter registration in Grant County.
The question before the judge is, “Whether the West Virginia Constitution’s residency requirements obligate the Secretary of State to exclude from the ballot a candidate for the West Virginia Senate District 14 who does not meet the district’s residency requirements.”
The petitioner, Kristine Ayers, is a voter in the district and is represented by attorney Anthony Majestro. Ayers is seeking a writ of mandamus against the Secretary of State, arguing that Harman fails to meet the mandatory one-year residency requirement for District 14.
Harman, a former state delegate, is a candidate in the primary election for a Senate seat in the district that includes Preston County, Tucker County, Grant County, Hardy County, Mineral County and part of Taylor County.
The incumbent on the ballot is Jay Taylor, a Taylor County resident who was first elected in 2022. The third candidate on the Republican ballot is Mike Manypenny, a Taylor County resident and former Democratic member of the House of Delegates.
The Democrat in the race for the district seat is Jason Armentrout of Mineral County.
Republican races across the state have been the subject of intense factional fights.
Harman is associated with a slate that includes former Senate Majority Leader Tom Takubo, a Republican from Kanawha County. Taylor, the Senate president pro tem, is on “Team Randy” — Senate President Randy Smith, the other officeholder from District 14.
“I think this is just another whack in what has been an extremely negative campaign by people supporting my opponent, by people using the out of state dollars that they’ve been raising,” Harman said.
Taylor, reached on the telephone before a “meet the candidates” event, said the lawsuit is not his doing. But, Taylor said, “I’ve heard people concerned he’s not from Grant County out on the campaign trail.”
Characterizing the race, Taylor concluded, “I’m the Randy Smith candidate. Marc is the Tom Takubo candidate. That’s really what it’s coming down to.”
State Navigate, which specializes in state government elections and polling, a few weeks ago showed Harman with an edge in the primary election race over the sprawling district, although “undecided” was the real runaway winner in the polling.
The polling showed Harman with 18%, Taylor with 15% and Manypenny with 8 percent. Yet the number of undecideds was enormous, 59 percent.
State Navigate concluded that Taylor “lacks an incumbency advantage” because he comes from the smallest portion of the district.
Now, though, Harman’s residency is a central question.
The court petition alleges that Harman changed his voter registration last Oct. 6. Before that, the petition contends, he had been registered to vote in Kanawha County and the switch was to Grant County.
Harman filled out a precandidacy form with the Secretary of State last Oct. 13, listing his address as an apartment on Grant Street in Petersburg, Grant County.
“But Kanawha County Tax Records tell a different story,” the petition alleges.
The petition maintains Harman listed a Charleston address for his 2025 tax filing and claimed a homestead exemption that exempts the first $20,000 in value for those who own a homestead used and occupied exclusively for their own residential purposes.
“A person may have multiple residences but only one Homestead,” the petition says.
The petition goes on to note that tax documents for Harman’s vacation home in North Carolina list his mailing address as the home in Charleston.
“That Respondent Harman’s property tax records conflict with his voter registration status calls into question
where Respondent Harman is truly domiciled,” the petition states.
The petitioner is asking the court to issue a writ and order the Secretary of State to withdraw Harman’s certificate of acceptance as a candidate.
“If not already set or certified, ballots should be corrected in all forms possible, and if ballots cannot be corrected,” the petition contends, “Respondent Harman should be declared ineligible to receive votes.”
Harman, on the telephone, said he knew when he decided to run for office that he would have to establish his residency in the district.
He contends that changes he made last October provides a year of necessary proof of residency for the general election this coming November.
“I’m from Grant County; my family’s lived there since well before statehood,” he said. “But I understood that I needed to take tangible steps for legal residency there, which I have done.”
He said that includes leasing the local apartment, registering to vote in Grant County and getting a driver’s license with the Grant County address, all by last October.
“You back up a year from the general election in which you would be running for office. That establishes the year residency requirement, and that’s what we’ve done,” he said.
Harman said the timing of the challenge “is nothing more than an attempt to confuse the voters, and it’s very unfair to the voters who have voted.”