Blake Miguez’s primary residence is in New Iberia, outside 6th District, AG says

State Sen. Blake Miguez’s official domicile is in New Iberia, according to an opinion released by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office Wednesday. In practical terms, her staff determined Miguez’s primary residence is located outside the 6th Congressional District, where he is currently running for office.

“[B]ased upon a review of the relevant facts, it is the opinion of this office that Senator Miguez’s domicile is still in Senate District 22 even though he has a residence in East Baton Rouge Parish,” assistant Attorney General Jennifer Byrd wrote. The AG’s office provided a copy of the opinion to the Illuminator. 

The writeup from the attorney general’s office won’t have a legal impact on the congressional race, as candidates or officeholders are not required to live in the U.S. House districts where they are running.

But the opinion could have affected his ability to stay in his state Senate seat representing part of Acadiana. Unlike members of Congress, state legislators are legally obligated to reside in the district they represent. If the attorney general had determined Miguez’s primary residence was in Baton Rouge instead of New Iberia, he could have been vulnerable to removal from his current elected position. 

“[A] person may have more than one residence but only one domicile,” Byrd wrote.

David Levy of New Iberia, a former Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives, asked the attorney general’s office to weigh in on Miguez’s residency, according to the document from Murrill’s office. 

Miguez campaign spokesman Chris Pack characterized Levy’s inquiry as a publicity stunt done to benefit state Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-Baton Rouge, who is Miguez’s most high-profile opponent in the 6th Congressional District race.

“Rick now owes Louisiana voters an explanation for why he pushed this nonsense when he had every reason to know it was baseless and whether he thinks it’s appropriate for taxpayers to foot the bill for his desperate political stunt,” Miguez spokesman Chris Pack said in a written statement Wednesday. 

Miguez bought a house in Baton Rouge on March 16 after announcing he would run for Congress in the 6th District, which includes most of the capital city.

In April, online records for the East Baton Rouge assessor showed Miguez claimed a homestead exemption at the address that would indicate it was his primary residence. In mid-September, Miguez no longer claimed the exemption. Murrill said at a news conference Wednesday there are no public records that verify that Miguez had listed his Baton Rouge residence as his homestead.    

Since jumping in the race, Miguez has played up his connections to the Baton Rouge community, suggesting he has lived there on and off for decades.

Miguez attended LSU and Southern University Law Center, both in Baton Rouge, but it’s unclear whether he has lived in the 6th District full-time outside of his time as a student. 

In one of his campaign videos, Miguez’s daughter tells the camera that he “moved to Baton Rouge in 1999,” around the time he would have started at LSU. 

Yet multiple documents identify the Republican’s New Iberia home as his primary residence, according to the attorney general office’s written opinion. Miguez’s homestead exemption designation, which can only apply to a primary residence, is registered to that property. His voter registration, bank information and vehicle registration also identify his New Iberia home as his domicile. 

Edmonds has sought to make Miguez’s residency a campaign issue. He called a news conference earlier this month to draw attention to Levy’s inquiry about Miguez’s primary residency. 

Miguez responded by highlighting an overdue state income tax bill Edmonds owed in Mississippi, where Edmonds works as a senior pastor at the First Baptist Church of McComb. 

Even though Edmonds works in Mississippi, the state senator said he has lived in Baton Rouge and the 6th Congressional District for several years. The Edmonds campaign said the state senator has paid the outstanding taxes. 

“I know the people of Senate District 22 have been as surprised as we are that Blake

continues to say he has lived in Baton Rouge for many years when that is not true,” Edmonds said a written statement Wednesday. “He will have to explain himself to the voters of Senate District 22 when he tries to represent them in the State Legislature next year.”

Reporter Piper Hutchinson contributed to this report.