After long-time U.S. Representative Daniel Webster announced his retirement in April, potential successors quickly filed to run for the open Central Florida seat.
Read more Fishing family has been feeding diners wild-caught St. John’s River catfish for decades
But of the eight major-party candidates who qualified for August’s primary, three lack a particular attribute: They don’t live in Webster’s 11th Congressional District, which is centered in Lake County and takes in part of west Orange County and all of Sumter County, election records show.
Those candidates, including two political veterans and one newcomer, instead reside in neighboring districts where they likely would have little chance to prevail against entrenched incumbents. That’s a situation that encourages ambitious politicians to look for a better race.
According to an Orlando Sentinel review, at least seven contenders for Congress in Central Florida in 2026 aren’t residents of the districts they hope to represent. One of the races features a candidate who lived in the district where he is running until a few weeks ago — when Florida state legislators voted to redraw district lines, a move that is likely to give Republicans four new seats in Congress but has scrambled the political landscape.
According to the U.S. Constitution, members of the U.S. House of Representatives must live in the states where their districts are located once they are elected. But they are not required to live inside their district boundaries, which frequently change, as they did this year in Florida.
Most voters probably don’t realize their Congress member doesn’t have to be a resident of their district, but if they do know, they probably prefer their elected representatives to live close by, said Susan MacManus, a retired political science professor at the University of South Florida.
That’s because they view a local person as better able to understand local problems, such as traffic.
“There’s a feeling that a person who lives in a district would be much more on top of and likely to respond to issues that have great local importance that might not be as big of a deal elsewhere,” she said.
To determine whether candidates are living in the districts they are running to represent, the Sentinel reviewed the addresses they provided on election documents filed with the Florida Division of Elections and, in some cases, information available on county property appraisers’ websites.
At least one current Central Florida Congress member, Randy Fine, lives nearly 100 miles away from his nearest constituents in Daytona Beach. Fine, a Brevard County resident, represents Congressional District 6. The district has a geographically huge footprint that covers much of Volusia County, stretches as far west as Interstate 75 and ends just south of St. Augustine — but is an hour-and-a-half drive from Fine’s oceanfront home in Melbourne Beach. Eleven candidates have filed to run against Fine this year, and all of them say they live in his district.
A former state legislator, Fine became a congressman last year when he won a special election to fill an empty seat. Fine, who is seeking another term, couldn’t be reached for comment.
One of the candidates vying to replace Webster, former Lake County Property Appraiser Carey Baker lives in a sliver of northern Lake that is in Fine’s district. But Baker is running to represent Congressional District 11, which includes much of his home county.
He wrote in an email that his roots “run deep” in that district, as he attended Tavares High School and Lake-Sumter College, both located in the district, previously represented the area in the Florida House and Senate and owns a gun shop where many of his customers are District 11 residents.
“It is my experience, proven record of service, and deep understanding of this district that set me apart from the other candidates,” Baker wrote.
Nevertheless, Baker added that he and his wife are considering moving back to Tavares, in the heart of the district.
One of Baker’s opponents in the Republican primary, Joe Strada, also lives outside District 11. His home is in Lake Mary, which is part of District 7, currently represented by Republican Cory Mills. But Strada, who runs an air conditioning, electric, security and plumbing company, said his business has three locations in District 11 and he employs hundreds of people there.
Read more Supreme Court ruling blocks thousands of lawsuits against maker of Roundup weedkiller
“My home is just outside the district, and let me tell you, the challenges facing folks in the 11th district are the same families and business owner across Florida are facing,” Strada said in a statement sent from a spokeswoman. “The 11th district is my community no matter politicians draw lines on a map.”
Democrat James Pericola, a veteran political operative who worked for former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, also filed to run for Webster’s seat, despite providing a home address in Mills’ district on his filing documents. That home in east Volusia County is roughly 45 minutes from the nearest point in District 11.
When asked why he was running in a neighboring district, Pericola blamed state leaders.
“Republicans continue to redraw the lines whenever and however politically convenient for them,” Pericola wrote. “I’m a central Florida native and proud Floridian, and I chose to get in this race because after 30 years of working in government and public policy, I have the experience to represent this district effectively.”
Asked whether he lives in this state, Pericola said he grew up in the Central Florida, came back to the Sunshine State earlier this year to help his aging mother and has been commuting back and forth from D.C. He listed his mother’s residence in Port Orange on his filing documents and voter registration. He is in the process of moving to Florida permanently with his wife and kids and said on Friday he will be a resident of the district he is running to serve “by this weekend.”
Plenty of Congress members do live in their districts, at least according to state documents. Rep. Maxwell Frost, an Orlando Democrat who faced no opposition this year, guaranteeing his election to his third term in Congress, claims an address in unincorporated Orange, within his district.
Mills, a Republican, reported that his legal residence is in New Smyrna Beach and in his district. But two Democrats challenging Mills, Alan Grayson and Marialana Kinter, do not live within those boundaries.
Grayson’s election paperwork indicates he lives in a home in unincorporated west Orange in District 11.
Kinter lives with family members near the University of Central Florida in District 8, which includes part of east Orange and all of Brevard. A veteran who retired from the military in late 2024 and then went to work at a research lab at UCF, Kinter said she thought her living arrangement would be temporary. But then she lost her job last year amid the Department of Government Efficiency cuts and ended up staying at the home, which she noted is just over a mile from the boundary line between the district she lives in and the one she wants to represent.
Kinter said she hopes voters will focus on her issues, like bringing down the cost of living, rather than her address.
Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat seeking his sixth term, also lives in his district, according to his election paperwork. Soto is fighting to keep his seat after state Republicans withdrew boundary lines to give members of their own party an advantage. Once solidly blue and heavily Hispanic, District 9 now includes most of Osceola County and part of southern Orange County, extends east to Vero Beach and stretches as far south as Glades County.
Soto’s likely Republican opponent, Thomas Chalifoux Jr., owns a home in Hunter’s Creek, a south Orange neighborhood that was in District 9 before Florida’s GOP leaders shuffled it into District 11. Now he’s within a mile of the District 9 boundary line but part of a district that snakes roughly 70 miles across west Orange and through Lake all the way to The Villages retirement community.
One of Chalifoux’s primary opponents, Steve Rance, also lives outside the district. He’s over 30 minutes away in an area of Ocoee that is part of Frost’s district. Rance didn’t respond to emailed questions.
But Chalifoux, who was his party’s nominee in 2024, lost to Soto and filed to run again last October, said it bothers him that his neighbors and friends can’t vote for him this time. He’s planning to move to Indian River County, which is in District 9.
“I believe people need to live in the district,” Chalifoux said. “I think that’s the proper thing to do, so we’re going to move.”
Read more How lifelong learning helps older adults stay sharp and connected