{"id":364560,"date":"2026-08-06T18:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/364560\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T18:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:50:12","slug":"pasco-state-rep-kevin-steele-faces-questions-over-his-race-to-represent-hillsborough-county-in-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/364560\/","title":{"rendered":"Pasco state Rep. Kevin Steele faces questions over his race to represent Hillsborough County in congress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RepresentativeRep. Kevin Steele, R-Dade City, serves as vice chairman and offers comments during the Information Technology Budget & Policy Subcommittee on Jan.y 14, 2025. Credit: Photo by Meredith Gettings \/ State of Florida<\/a><\/p>\n

Pasco County Republican state lawmaker Kevin Steele has emphasized his Hillsborough County roots since entering the race for the Republican nomination for Congressional District 14. That\u2019s because the newly redrawn congressional seat is set exclusively in Hillsborough, far from the area he now represents in the Florida House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

Federal law does not require a member of Congress to live in the district he or she represents. However, state law says a state lawmaker must live in the district he or she represents.<\/p>\n

The CD 14 seat has been held for the past 20 years by Tampa Democrat Kathy Castor. But after it was redistricted from an area she won by 15 points in 2024 to one that Donald Trump won by more than 10 points that same year, Steele and seven other Republicans filed to run for the seat.<\/p>\n

When asked by the Phoenix Tuesday night whether he intended to move from Pasco to Hillsborough if elected to the seat in November, he said he already lived in and had voted in the district. He posted\u00a0a photo<\/a>\u00a0on social media Monday with members of his family at the Jan Platt Library in South Tampa, the first day of early voting in the county.<\/p>\n

Records show Steele is registered to vote in Hillsborough County. However, he still has a homestead exemption at his Dade City home in Pasco County, where he serves as a state representative in District 55.<\/p>\n

According to his most recent Form 6 financial disclosure filed July 1, under the description of assets, he lists his \u201cResidence and Land\u201d as the street address of his home in Dade City, but instead of Dade City he lists the city as Tampa. However, the street he lists as his residence does not exist in Tampa.<\/p>\n

State\u00a0law<\/a>\u00a0says House candidates or incumbents must live and be registered to vote in the districts in which they were running at the time of the election and maintain a residence in the district for the entire term to which they are elected. Lawmakers are allowed to own multiple homes but can only have one principal, or legal, residence.<\/p>\n

Florida House\u00a0rules<\/a>\u00a0also say they consider a lawmaker\u2019s legal residence to be the one listed on official documents or mentioned in statements to others, voter registration records, homestead exemption paperwork, and a driver\u2019s license; where a lawmaker receives mail; or where a spouse and minor children live and attend school.<\/p>\n

Steele did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article appears in Aug. 06-12, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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