TRENTON, N.J. — Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis can’t be listed on the November ballot for a state Senate seat in New Jersey, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
The judge affirmed that the Democrat failed to meet the state’s four-year residency requirement.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, a Republican, had previously said Lewis was ineligible to run.
The decision is certain to be appealed to a federal appeals court.
That panel permitted Lewis to be listed on June primary ballots. Lewis won his party’s uncontested primary with 2,418 votes. He would face incumbent Sen. Dawn Addiego in November in the Republican-leaning district.
The 50-year-old Olympic icon grew up in New Jersey but attended college in Texas and later lived in California. He has owned homes in New Jersey since 2005, but also pays taxes and utilities on homes in California. He’s been a volunteer track coach in his native Willingboro since 2007, but voted in California as recently as 2009. He switched his voter registration to New Jersey just before declaring his candidacy in April.
Guadagno last month declined to certify his name for the November ballot. The judge on Wednesday affirmed that decision, just ahead of the deadline for gathering candidate information for the printing of the fall election ballots.
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