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Foreign-Born Senators


The president is constitutionally required to be natural born, but foreign-born Senators need only nine years of U.S. citizenship to qualify for office. Constitutional qualificationsto be a Senator are specified in Article I, section 3.   



Senator (State)


Senate Service


Birth Place
David Hartley Armstrong(MO)   1877-1879Canada
David Baird(NJ) 1918-1919Ireland
Edward Baker(OR) 1860-1861England
James Burnie Beck(KY) 1877-1890Scotland
Judah Philip Benjamin(LA) 1853-1861St. Croix
Rudy Boschwitz(MN) 1978-1991Germany
Pierce Butler(SC) 1789-1796; 1802-1804Ireland
George Washington Campbell(TN) 1811-1814; 1815-1818Scotland
Eugene Casserly(CA) 1869-1873Ireland
John Conness(CA) 1863-1869Ireland
James Couzens(MI) 1922-1936Canada
James John Davis(PA) 1930-1945Wales
Charles Edward Dudley(NY) 1829-1833England
James Graham Fair(NV) 1881-1887Ireland
Eligius Fromentin(LA) 1813-1819France
Albert Gallatin(PA) not seatedSwitzerland
Jacob Harold Gallinger(NH) 1891-1918Canada
Frank Robert Gooding(ID) 1921-1928England
William Harper(SC) 1826Antigua
Sam Hayakawa(CA) 1977-1983Canada
Mazie Hirono(HI) 2013-presentJapan
William Hughes(NJ) 1913-1918Ireland
James Jackson(GA) 1793-1795; 1801-1806England
Magnus Johnson(MN) 1923-1925Sweden
Charles William Jones(FL) 1875-1887Ireland
John Percival Jones(NV) 1873-1903England
Thomas Kearns(UT) 1901-1905Canada
Octaviano Larrazolo(NM) 1928-1929Mexico
John Laurance(NY) 1796-1800England
William Lorimer(IL) 1909-1912England
Walter Lowrie(PA) 1819-1825Scotland
Stephen Russell Mallory(FL) 1851-1861Trinidad
Lee Mantle(MT) 1895-1899England
Mel Martinez(FL) 2005-2009Cuba
James McMillan(MI) 1889-1902Canada
Joseph Hopkins Millard(NE) 1901-1907Canada
Robert Morris(PA) 1789-1795England
John Moses(ND) 1945Norway
James Edward Murray(MT) 1934-1961Canada
Knute Nelson(MN) 1895-1923Norway
Samuel Danford Nicholson(CO) 1921-1923Canada
Samuel Pasco(FL) 1887-1899England
William Paterson(NJ) 1789-1790Ireland
Thomas M. Patterson(CO) 1901-1907Ireland
Alexander Porter(LA) 1833-1837Ireland
Edward Vivian Robertson(WY) 1943-1949Wales
Carl Schurz(MO) 1869-1875Germany
William Joyce Sewell(NJ) 1881-1887; 1895-1901Ireland
James Shields(IL) 1849-1855Ireland
                      (MN)1858-1859 
                      (MO)1879 
Joseph Simon(OR) 1898-1903Germany
Pierre Soulé(LA) 1847; 1849-1853France
Isaac Stephenson(WI) 1907-1915Canada
Patrick Joseph Sullivan (WY) 1929-1930Ireland
George Sutherland(UT) 1905-1917England
Thomas Taggart(IN) 1916Ireland
Edward Tiffin(OH) 1807-1809England
Robert Ferdinand Wagner(NY) 1927-1949Germany
Patrick Walsh(GA) 1894-1895Ireland
David Levy Yulee(FL) 1845-1851; 1855-1861St. Thomas


Born to American parents abroad

Michael F. Bennet(CO) 2009-presentIndia
Charles William Cathcart(IN) 1852-1853Madeira
Rafael Edward (Ted) Cruz(TX) 2013-presentCanada
Tammy Duckworth(IL) 2017-presentThailand
Felix Hebert(RI) 1929-1935Canada
John McCain(AZ) 1987-2018Panama Canal Zone
James Willis Nesmith(OR) 1861-1867Canada
George Tener Oliver(PA) 1909-1917Ireland
Chris Van Hollen(MD) 2017-presentPakistan
Lowell Weicker(CT) 1971-1989France
George Peabody Wetmore(RI) 1895-1907; 1908-1913England


Born in territories not yet incorporated into the U.S.

Hiram Bingham(CT) 1924-1933Kingdom of Hawaii
Charles Bouligny(LA) 1824-1829Spanish Louisiana
Jean Noel Destréhan(LA) 1812French Louisiana