Judge says legislative candidate meets residency requirement

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi judge has ruled that a legislative candidate will meet a two-year residency requirement and may appear on the Democratic primary ballot in August.

Jeffrey Hulum III is challenging Democratic Rep. Sonya Williams-Barnes of Gulfport in state House District 119 in Harrison County.

Hulum was raised in Gulfport and served in the Army from February 1996 until February 2018. The state Democratic Party certified him as qualified to run, and Williams-Barnes questioned whether he will have lived in the district two years before the November general election.

A transcript filed Monday in Hinds County Circuit Court shows that a specially appointed judge, Larry Roberts, ruled April 15 in favor of Hulum. Roberts noted that shortly before Hulum left the Army, he had his belongings shipped from Germany to Gulfport.