Did Grapevine mayor candidate reside in city long enough to be eligible to run?
Voting records and property records call into question whether a Grapevine mayoral candidate has lived long enough in the city to be eligible as a candidate.
On Jan. 18, Nicholas Kaufman filed to run for mayor and challenge William Tate, who was first elected as mayor in 1975. Kaufman stated on the filing he had lived in Grapevine for six months. That would be long enough to be eligible for office. According to Texas election laws, candidates for public elective offices in the state must have resided continuously in Texas for 12 months and “in the territory from which the office is elected for six months” before the filing deadline for their race (it was Feb. 12 in Grapevine).
But voting records obtained by the Star-Telegram from the Secretary of State indicate Kaufman registered to vote in Denton County on July 9, 2020, and voted in Denton County in October. He switched his voter registration to Tarrant County in November, according to the records. Additionally, a homestead exemption is listed at a Denton County property owned by his wife. Homestead exemptions can only be taken out on primary residences, according to the Texas Comptroller. That property’s address is what Kaufman listed on his Denton County voter registration.
A spokesperson for Kaufman, who responded to Kaufman’s campaign email address but did not provide a name, said Kaufman began living at a Grapevine rental in July and then moved to another Grapevine rental in October.
“His opponents are just using dirty political campaign tactics with hopes they can persuade voters to discount his application at any cost,” the spokesperson said.
But when the Star-Telegram asked Kaufman to provide a lease showing he had moved to Grapevine in July the spokesperson did not respond, nor did the spokesperson respond to a question about why Kaufman would have registered to vote in Denton County the same month. Kaufman also did not return a voicemail left by the Star-Telegram.
His candidacy has attracted controversy in the city. At a council meeting last week, Grapevine resident Chad Rudel brought up Kaufman’s residency. “The concern that we have is we have an application that is at the very least misleading,” Rudel said. No one, however, has filed a formal challenge to Kaufman’s candidacy, according to Grapevine’s city secretary.
Kaufman addressed questions about his residency in a February Facebook video with his wife. He talked about their business, Wine Fusion Winery in Grapevine, and how on their first date they went to a restaurant on Grapevine’s Main Street. But he was short on details about the length of his residency in Grapevine, only saying they had moved to the city last year.
“I certainly feel like we have lived here a long time,” he said.
In Arlington, a City Council candidate with a homestead exemption in Mansfield is registered to vote in the the council district representing East Arlington and used the same address to file in the race. A complaint was filed but the city said the documents filed with the complaint did not prove the candidate lived outside the district.
This story was originally published April 28, 2021 at 9:10 AM.
