Democrat Jon Ossoff continues to live outside of Georgia's sixth district, despite running for its congressional seat, and was challenged to defended his decision Friday during an appearance on MSNBC.
Ossoff discussed the importance of turnout in Georgia's upcoming special runoff election on Tuesday before host Stephanie Ruhle asked him why he has put his campaign at risk by living somewhere else.
"You are not able to vote because you don't live in the district," Ruhle said to Ossoff, noting that the candidate cannot vote for himself because of his residency. "I understand that you don't live in the district. You live where your fiancee, your girlfriend, is because you're supporting her; she is in medical school. Why don't you move at this point?"
"You want to get this job. To me it doesn't seem like that big of a deal," Ruhle added.
"As you know, Stephanie, I grew up in the district, and Alisha [Kramer] walks to work at the hospital every morning at 4:00 a.m. for her medical shifts, her shifts at the hospital," Ossoff responded.
"I'm proud to be supporting her career even if I take a little political heat for it," he said.
"What is the plan if you get elected. Will you move?" co-host Ali Velshi asked.
"Once she finishes her medical training," Ossoff said, "I'll be right back in the district, five minutes from where I grew up."
Ossoff has lived with Alisha Kramer, his girlfriend of 12 years, throughout his congressional campaign. Two weeks after Ossoff finished first in the Georgia election without winning it outright, leading to a runoff vote, he proposed to Kramer.
Ossoff's Republican opponent, former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel, has criticized Ossoff throughout the campaign for not living in the district he is running to represent in the House of Representatives.