Date: 5/25/2022
Recently, and after intense legal research and discussions with the State Elections Commission, Attorney John Harding learned that he falls just short by a few months in qualifying as a candidate for state Senate. The Massachusetts GOP asked him last week to look into the legalities of the little known requirement that he be “an inhabitant of this commonwealth five years at least immediately preceding his election,” pursuant to Massachusetts Constitution Amendment Article 101, Section 2. While Harding had always considered himself a Massachusetts resident, Harding was registered to vote in Virginia from 2004 until his military retirement in 2018. Harding will voluntarily withdraw his candidacy for state Senate and support Republican Bill Johnson of Granby. Harding originally understood himself to have met the residency requirement and lamented, “While I am heartbroken, I take full responsibility for this oversight. While I felt called to lead by exercising greater fiscal and social responsibility, unifying our divided communities, and returning decency to public discourse, I will now consider focusing my efforts on a ‘write-in’ campaign for East Longmeadow’s vacant Town Council seat as all I hope to do is serve and to better our community.” Harding is forever grateful to his supporters who he wants to thank immensely for their hard work and sacrifice. Harding advised, “I look forward to working closely with whomever gets elected to the Senate seat to better the lives of the ‘inhabitants’ of our community. I wish the best to the candidates and God bless our Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our United States of America.”
John Harding
East Longmeadow
