Greater Cincinnati GOP congressional hopeful pledges to move into district 'when we win'

The Republican congressional hopeful challenging incumbent Democrat Rep. Greg Landsman to represent part of Greater Cincinnati lives a few miles outside the district he's running to represent.

"When we win this race, of course, my family and I will move within the district lines," Republican candidate Orlando Sonza said in a text message to The Enquirer.

Sonza, 32, lives in Springfield Township, based on his voter registration and address listed with the Hamilton County Board of Elections. That's in the 8th Congressional District represented by fellow Republican Rep. Warren Davidson.

Sonza is running in the 1st Congressional District, which covers all of Cincinnati and the eastern part of Hamilton County as well as Warren County to the north. His address is within 3 miles of the district's border with the 8th Congressional District. The 8th Congressional District covers the suburbs to the west of Cincinnati, plus Butler County and several other western Ohio counties.

U.S. representatives aren't required to live in the districts they represent, although they traditionally do. All of Ohio's 15 representatives are registered to vote in their districts, based on a check of records by The Enquirer.

When called and asked about his residence, Sonza responded via text slamming his opponent, Landsman "who just falls in line with Joe Biden's failed agenda." Sonza said he's "been committed to providing leadership before any congressional lines were drawn."

He said via text he made his announcement before the congressional lines were finalized.

Sonza announced his campaign in July 2023 before it was known what the boundaries of the district would be. The Ohio Supreme Court in 2022 had declared the congressional lines drawn by the Ohio General Assembly unconstitutional. About two months after Sonza launched his campaign, opponents to the congressional maps dropped a legal challenge to the state's congressional maps and the Supreme Court dismissed the case, leaving the current boundaries intact.

Sonza's residency is a problem as well as the fact he grew up in New Jersey, Landsman said in a text message to The Enquirer. He then called Sonza an extremist for his opposition to the abortion rights amendment passed by voters in November and support in August 2023 that would have made it harder to amend the Ohio Constitution.

"I do agree it's a problem for him, mostly because no one knows him except for the extreme positions he has taken," said Landsman, 47, a Democrat from Cincinnati's Mount Washington neighborhood,

Landsman is in his first term as a U.S. representative after he unseated longtime Republican Rep. Steve Chabot in 2022. Biden won the district by about 9 percentage points in 2020 over Donald Trump.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Where does Republican congressional candidate Orlando Sonza live?