Brian Bob Kenderes, the Democratic nominee in the 14th Congressional District race, was sentenced to 30 days in the Lake County jail followed by two years of probation for a felony conviction of filing a false voter registration.

Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Patrick J. Condon sentenced Kenderes on Thursday. Kenderes is to report to jail Nov. 9, four days after the general election, to begin his sentence.

Kenderes’ maximum sentence for the fifth-degree felony was one year in prison, a $2,500 fine and two years of probation, according to the written guilty plea he signed June 25.

Kenderes, who was given indigent status as he listed his sole source of income as Social Security Disability Insurance, was not fined.

Kenderes, 42, has declined to comment on the incident and didn’t respond Thursday to a request to discuss his conviction.

He remains the Democratic candidate in the 14th District, and has not withdrawn as of Thursday.

If Kenderes chooses to withdraw, he would have to do it by Aug. 12 in order for the Democratic Party to choose a successor. Aug. 12 is the last day Democrats could choose a replacement if Kenderes quits the race.

If he withdraws after, Democrats wouldn’t have a candidate in the congressional race against U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge, who is seeking his seventh two-year term on the Nov. 5 ballot.

There is nothing prohibiting a felon from running for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Trumbull County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Alberini has called on Kenderes to step down, even if it means the party doesn’t have a candidate on the ballot.

The district includes all of Trumbull, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties and all but two communities in Portage County. It is considered a safe Republican district.

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office on March 22 charged Kenderes, the only Democrat to file for the 14th District this year, with the felony.

The sheriff’s office accused Kenderes of living in Strongsville, but filing his voter registration and nominating petitions with the Lake County Board of Elections stating he lives in Mentor.

Mentor is in Lake County, the district’s most-populous county, while Strongsville is in Cuyahoga County, which isn’t in the district.

However, a congressional candidate only needs to live in Ohio and not in the district to seek that office.

Kenderes filed three nominating petitions, also called candidate declarations, with signatures to get on the ballot with the Lake County board dated Dec. 15, 16 and 19 stating he lives at 8930 Doral Drive in Mentor, as well as a voter registration form on Dec. 15 with the board with that same Mentor address.

After the elections board sent a letter to Kenderes at the Mentor address acknowledging his registration, his brother and sister-in-law, who live there, informed the board that Kenderes does not reside there and never has, according to the sheriff’s office complaint.

The couple – Joseph and Jill Kenderes – said the candidate has lived at 9049 Prospect Road in Strongsville since 2017.

The board forwarded the information to the Lake County Prosecutor’s Office, which then sent it to the sheriff’s office for investigation.

Kenderes “refused to speak with detectives regarding the investigation,” the complaint states.

On documents Kenderes signed when the case was initially heard in Painesville Municipal Court, he listed the Strongsville address on a not guilty plea dated April 23 — he wasn’t permitted to plead guilty to a felony in a municipal court — and used a Garfield Heights address of 4882 E. 97th St. on an April 23 financial disclosure form to show he is indigent. Garfield Heights is in Cuyahoga County.

Joyce has $2.68 million in his campaign fund as of his last report. Kenderes hasn’t filed any finance reports with the Federal Election Commission.