“The statute says the Attorney General shall reside at the seat of government,” Cross said in a prepared statement. “Having conducted a thorough legal analysis, the statute in question refers to where the primary Office of the Attorney General resides, not where the Attorney General’s home is located.

“This isn’t an issue,” Cross said. “He’s 10 minutes from the office and he shows up for work every day.”

Cross later said the trek was “15 minutes on a good day.”

Boone County property tax records show Hawley owns 10 acres near the southern border of Columbia, situated 24 miles from the Missouri Supreme Court Building in downtown Jefferson City.

The fastest route, on Highway 63, crosses the Missouri River, two county lines and the city of Ashland. The speed limit for most of the trip is 70 mph.

Hawley’s decision to live outside of Jefferson City came as a surprise to Stephen Webber, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party.

“He sold himself to the voters as a constitutional lawyer. And now he’s ignoring the parts of the law that he finds inconvenient,” Webber said Monday.