WASHINGTON — Democratic Party voters living in the 27th Congressional District nominated California resident Ricardo De La Fuente to challenge U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, even though De La Fuente was simultaneously running for Congress in California.

De La Fuente, who describes himself as an entrepreneur, defeated Charlie Jackson by more than 20% of the vote in the Democratic primary Tuesday, but now questions are being raised about the legality of De La Fuente’s victory.

Jackson, a businessman from Corpus Christi, said he intends to take legal action in order to “get De La Fuente kicked off the ballot and kicked out of the state of Texas.”

De La Fuente said he campaigned minimally for the seat in Texas, and Federal Election Commission records don’t show any campaign expenditures from De La Fuente for the race.

He is not registered to vote in Texas and said he did not vote in the primary elections in any state.

In California’s 21st Congressional District, De La Fuente received only 8.3% of the vote — well short of the amount he needed to advance to the November general election.

FEC records do not show any expenditures by De La Fuente in the California race, either.

The website for De La Fuente’s campaign makes no mention of which district or state he’s running in, instead referring to “our district." The background photo at the top of the website is of the New York City skyline.

This isn’t the first time De La Fuente, who describes his politics as socially liberal but fiscally conservative, has run for Congress.

In 2017, De La Fuente was on the ballot as a Democrat in a special election for California’s 34th Congressional District. De La Fuente loaned himself more than $155,000 for the race, according to FEC records, but received less than 1% of the vote.

The following year, De La Fuente mounted an entirely self-funded campaign in Florida’s 24th Congressional District, loaning his campaign almost $75,000 to challenge Rep. Frederica Wilson in the Democratic primary. The Californian received 16% of the vote, compared with Wilson’s 83%.

De La Fuente said he also mulled a 2018 write-in candidacy in California’s 34th and even received a single write-in vote in California’s 32nd Congressional District that same year. De La Fuente said he doesn’t know who cast the vote.

Running for public office appears to be a family pastime for the De La Fuente family.

De La Fuente’s father, Roque De La Fuente II, is on the presidential ballot in a handful of states as a Republican. He’s loaned his campaign more than $15.2 million for the race.

The elder De La Fuente ran for the highest office in the land previously in 2016.

He also mounted at least eight simultaneous U.S. Senate campaigns across the country in 2018. Every campaign was unsuccessful.

The elder De La Fuente’s other son, Roque De La Fuente III, is also running for president this year — as a Democrat.

“The De La Fuente family, by running in different states and not being challenged in those states, is making a fool of the Democratic Party,” Jackson said.

But the Texas Democratic Party doesn’t appear interested in intervening in the dispute.

“Under the Federal Constitution, you only have to be a resident of the state,” Texas Democratic Party spokesman Abhi Rahman said in an email. “He filed a sworn affidavit that he was a resident of Victoria, Texas, when he paid his filing fee. Therefore, he is a resident of Texas and eligible to be on the ballot.”

The U.S. Constitution requires someone running for the House of Representatives to be at least 25 years old, a U.S. citizen for seven years and to live in the same state as the district you want to represent on the general election day.

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office says the state parties control who appears on primary ballots.

“The process for applying to be in the primary is governed by the party,” said Stephen Chang, director of communications for the agency. “It’s up to the party and other candidates in the race to make sure everyone meets eligibility requirements.”

Jordan Libowitz, communications director for nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, agreed with the state Democratic Party’s assessment.

“If [De La Fuente] were to move to Texas tomorrow, he wouldn’t have any issues,” he said. “But it’s certainly weird.”

De La Fuente said he has every intention of moving into an apartment he owns in Victoria and beginning to campaign.

“I’m a young, ambitious, aspiring candidate,” he said. “I want to be in Congress, and I want to work really hard to deliver results.”

Regardless of who ends up on the November general election ballot, Democrats are unlikely to find success in the district.

Cloud won the district with 60% of the vote in 2018.

“There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that anybody will support him,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t know the people, he doesn’t know the land, he doesn’t know the language or the culture, either.”