Yes, you can have more than one “primary residence.”
Rep. Reuben Gallago (D-AZ), the most likely Democrat to replace Kyrsten Sinema in the U.S. Senate, bought a house in Washington D.C. where he works, which he claimed as his “primary residence” for purposes of getting a V.A. loan on the property.
Gallego and his wife also own a home in Phoenix they claim as a “primary residence” for mortgage, tax, and voting purposes.
Politico says (here), “Politically, it means the Democratic congressman aiming to take out Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) in a hotly contested race next year may have to explain why he declared he was primarily a resident of the nation’s capital.”
Nonsense. Every member of Congress has a Washington D.C. residence; their job requires it. That doesn’t mean they can’t count their home state as their primary residence, even if they spend the majority of their time in D.C. The situation is analogous to military personnel serving away from their home of record; they can still vote and buy resident hunting and fishing licenses there.
Another reason it’s nonsense, but harder to explain to questioning voters, is that “primary residence” is a legal term of art that has different meanings in different contexts. Legal language often differs from what people understand when the same term is used in vernacular; for example, when I was young, the term “infant” in a legal document referred to anyone under the age of majority (which then was 21 in most jurisdictions).
What I’m trying to explain is that “primary residence” for V.A. loan purposes isn’t necessarily the same as “primary residence” for voting purposes. You have to consult applicable laws to determine whether you meet residency requirements for a V.A. loan or to register to vote. As the definition of “primary residence” can differ for different purposes, there’s no reason why you can’t have different “primary residences” for mortgage loan or voting purposes.
This is a nuance that will escape many people, because most people aren’t schooled in the quirks of legal language and terminology. Most would be surprised to learn they were “infants” until they turned 21 before American legal drafters abandoned that terminology. (To the best of my knowledge, it isn’t commonly used anymore.)
So, primary residence doesn’t mean what you think it does; it means what the V.A. loan regulations and Arizona voting laws say it does, and those definitions don’t have to be (and aren’t) the same.