There is a difference between your primary residence and your principal residence. One is a tax status filing term, the other is a mortgage underwriting term. People get tripped up on this all the time and the entire crux of the RS article is the author conflating the two.

For mortgage purposes, MD would be his principal residence, CA a second home. For tax registration purposes, his primary residence would be CA as that is where he is registered to vote and what he uses when filing taxes.


From the CNN article:

"To qualify for a homeowner’s exemption under California law, “a dwelling must be the person’s true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment to which he/she, whenever absent, intends to return.” Factors used to determine if someone lives in the state are, “in-state presence, vehicle registration, voter registration, bank accounts, and state income tax filings.”

Multiple real estate law experts with whom CNN’s KFile spoke said Schiff is likely not in any legal jeopardy. The ambiguous language of the law means Schiff is likely legally in the clear in regard to his taxes and mortgage, and there is no group that tracks if other members of Congress fill out their tax and mortgage documents in a similar way. But the dual residency could still complicate his run for the Senate in the state’s competitive primary and present a political problem."