Dr. Mehmet Oz’s claim to residency in Pennsylvania may be both recent and tenuous, but that won’t keep him off the crowded GOP ballot of contenders seeking to replace U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey.

The Associated Press reported that Oz, 61, a longtime New Jersey resident, is planning to announce his candidacy. The well-known heart surgeon, author and star of TV’s “Dr. Oz Show” would bring instant name recognition to the race.

Even though he changed his voter registration to his in-laws’ Pennsylvania address last year and has said he is now a Keystone State resident, Oz has lived in New Jersey for decades and many question whether he actually lives here.

That won’t matter unless he is elected to the Senate.

Although a candidate for the state Legislature must be a resident of Pennsylvania for four years, the requirements for U.S. Senate candidates are far less stringent.

“To be elected a U.S. senator, you only have to be a resident of the state when elected,” said Clifford Levine, a Pittsburgh lawyer who practices election law.

Residency requirements for senators are outlined in Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution, Levine added. Unlike residency requirements for state lawmakers — which vary from state to state — residency requirements for senators are the same across the nation.

A spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State confirmed that is the case.

Residency requirements, however are a bit hazy.

Quoting a 2015 Congressional Research Service brief on the topic, the Associated Press reported the requirement does not mean somebody elected to the Senate must own land or property in the state or even live there after elected.

But it became clear in 2004 that optics count. Former Sen. Rick Santorum came under fire that year after it was revealed that he had moved his family to a large home in Leesburg, Va., but claimed residency in Pennsylvania by virtue of a small home he owned in Penn Hills.

Oz may not be the only likely candidate whose residency raises questions.

Published reports suggest David McCormick, a Connecticut hedge fund CEO and former undersecretary of U.S. Treasury in the George W. Bush administration, also has been encouraged to enter the race for Toomey’s seat.

Although he has lived in Connecticut for years, McCormick is a Pennsylvania native and the son of a former chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

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