There is a difference — and when it comes to politics, government, and taxation — there is a PROFOUND DIFFERENCE between where one lives now and where one used to live. The New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristoff, found this out the hard way, when he tried to run for governor of the state of his birth, Oregon, even though he actually lives in New York. (Second homes don’t count for the purpose of determining residency. And Kristof voted in New York, not in Oregon.)
I was born, raised, educated, and formerly employed in California, but I don’t live there or work there anymore. Therefore — as much as I might enjoy being addressed as “Senator Noose” — it would be inappropriate for me to be appointed as a U.S. Senator representing California.
Laphonza Butler no longer lives in California. She probably doesn’t pay state income tax there anymore either (though I don't know that for sure). And where did she vote in the last election? If she voted in Maryland in 2020 and 2022, then, for all political purposes, she should be deemed a resident of Maryland, in which case it is inappropriate (if not also unlawful) for her to represent California, a state she was not born in, does not work in, and no longer lives in.