Congress members up for re-election can run for president

An article on Roll Call about a New Jersey law signed this month that clarifies that a candidate for one of the state’s U.S. Senate or House seats can also run in presidential primaries interviews James Gardner, professor of law. “There are very legitimate reasons to prohibit people from running for two offices. It does not necessarily speak to the great commitment of the candidate to any particular constituency,” he said, adding, “Given, up until recently anyway, the view that the pool of highly qualified presidential candidates is limited, there’s a good argument for not artificially constricting the pool and particularly for not punishing the voters for elevating a talented person.”