A Democrat candidate for the Texas House is facing questions over whether he meets the state’s constitutional residency requirement after public statements indicate his family did not return to Texas until 2025.
Chris Jimenez is the Democrat nominee for House District 52, where he is challenging Republican State Rep. Caroline Harris Davila in November.
Under Article III, Section 7 of the Texas Constitution, candidates for the Texas House must have been residents of the state for two years preceding their election.
For candidates in the November 2026 general election, that makes November 3, 2024, the relevant date.
Records and public statements, however, indicate Jimenez and his family were living in Connecticut around that time.
Jimenez’s personal financial statement filed with the Texas Ethics Commission reports occupational income from a position with the Department of Veterans Affairs in West Haven, Connecticut.
His wife, Katy Jimenez, also listed employment with Connecticut-based Advanced TelePsych through January 2025.
In January 2025, she announced she was leaving the company and embarking on a new venture in Texas.
Responding to a comment on LinkedIn on January 24, she wrote that she “cannot wait to be back” and was looking forward to getting “out of this cold.”
The family’s Rock Bottom Ranch website was even more explicit about the timing of their return.
“It’s official—we’re coming home!” the website stated.
“This March, our family will officially return to Texas, ready to reconnect with old friends, family, and this incredible community.”
A March 2025 post on the ranch’s website similarly described the family as having spent years away before returning to Central Texas.
Additionally, Texas Secretary of State records reveal Jimenez did not vote in Texas during the 2024 election.
Election attorney and former Chair of the Federal Election Commission Trey Trainor told Texas Scorecard that Texas courts consider the totality of the circumstances when determining whether a candidate maintained residency in the state.
Relevant factors, he said, can include where the candidate votes and works, where their family resides, public statements of intent, the length of time spent away, and whether they maintained a home in Texas during their absence.
“Statements indicating plans to ‘return’ to Texas, employment in another state, lack of voter participation in Texas, and similar facts are all relevant data points a court would weigh, but no single factor is dispositive,” Trainor said, calling it an “intensely fact-specific inquiry.”
Trainor also confirmed that the Texas Constitution’s two-year residency requirement is mandatory and that November 3, 2024, is the relevant date for candidates in this year’s election.
Jimenez was asked whether he was a legal resident of Texas on November 3, 2024, what Texas domicile he maintained while living in Connecticut, and how he reconciles continuous Texas residency with his family’s statements that they would return to Texas in 2025.
He did not respond to a request for comment.
