Despite his 2022 campaign promise to move into the congressional district he was elected to represent, U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner hasn’t moved — and now, he doesn’t plan to.
The 41-year-old Democrat first revealed his change of heart during a taping of WPRI-TV 12’s Newsmakers on Friday, citing family’s circumstances for why he has backed off his campaign pledge.
“We’ve decided that at this point, it makes sense for us to stay in our house in Providence,” Magaziner said. He referenced his family’s new baby, born in April 2024, and his wife’s new job that requires a two-hour commute from Providence to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Moving to Cranston would likely extend that travel time.
The U.S. Constitution requires members of Congress to live in the states they represent, but not the district. Yet Magaziner pledged during his first run for congressional office in 2022 — filling the seat vacated by former Rep. Jim Langevin — that he would move into the 2nd Congressional District, which covers the state’s southern and western areas.
At the time of the 2022 election, Magaziner and his family lived on the East Side of Providence, which falls within the 1st Congressional District. The capital city is the only state municipality bifurcated by the congressional district line. Indeed, Magaziner’s Providence home falls one mile away from the district line.
In 2023, Magaziner and his wife bought a house in the Edgewood section of Cranston. However, during his 2024 reelection campaign, Magaziner was still living and voting in Providence, outside his district, WPRI reported at the time. Magaziner told WPRI that renovations to his Cranston house were more extensive than expected, which is why he had not moved.
Now, the move is off, though the Cranston home is still listed under his wife, Julia McDowell’s name, according to city records.
Magaziner defended his decision on Newsmakers, insisting that where he lives has not hurt his ability to do his job or represent the 559,000 district residents.
“I continue to fight for the working people of the 2nd Congressional District with legislation in Washington, and I’ll continue to show up and deliver, just as I have for the last two and a half years,” Magaziner said during the taping.
John Marion, executive director of Common Cause Rhode Island, chalked up the scrutiny surrounding residency requirements in Rhode Island as “more symbolic than practical.”
“We’re so geographically compact in Rhode Island,” Marion said in an interview Monday. “If this were someone in Colorado who lived in another corner of the state, it might be a problem.”
Yet, Marion acknowledged the poor optics of Magaziner not fulfilling his pledge to move.
Rhode Island GOP Chair Joe Powers seized on the “empty promise” in a statement Friday.
“Magaziner’s decision is yet another example of how little respect career politicians have for the people of this state,” Powers said. “He told voters he was moving into the district. He made that promise. Now he’s casually breaking it with a shrug and a smile, hoping no one notices or cares.”
Powers described the situation as a pattern among Rhode Island Democrats who “say one thing to get elected, then quietly do the opposite.”
A Washington Post analysis in 2017 found 21 U.S. representatives, of both political parties, living outside of their districts. Updated information for the current Congress was not immediately available.
“It’s not the norm but it’s not unusual,” Marion said of congressional members living outside their district.
Katherine Riordan, a spokesperson for Magaziner’s office, responded to requests for comment Monday with an emailed statement that repeated exactly what Magaziner said during the WPRI interview. She declined to comment about what Magaziner plans to do with the house his family bought in Cranston.
Updated to include a response from Katherine Riordan on behalf of U.S. Rep. Seth Magaziner.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
