Unlike the president and vice president, US senators do not need to be natural-born citizens in order to take office.
The US Senate, alongside the House of Representatives, is one of the two chambers of Congress. It comprises 100 senators, two from each state, who serve six-year terms with no term limits.
To qualify as a US senator, a person must be:
- At least 30 years old
- A US citizen for at least nine years
- Live in the state they want to represent when they are elected
Six current senators were born outside the US, bringing the total number throughout history to 74, according to the US Senate Historical Office. Many were US citizens at birth despite being born in another country — for instance, because they were born to American parents working in government positions abroad.
One of the best-known foreign-born senators who became a naturalized US citizen was former New York Sen. Robert Wagner. He was born in Germany and introduced and championed the Wagner Act, a landmark 1935 labor law that protects many private-sector workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively.
Here’s a closer look at the six active senators born outside the US.
Michael Bennet (D-Colo.)
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Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat representing Colorado, was born in New Delhi while his father, Douglas Bennet, was working for the US State Department. He got US citizenship at birth.
The family later moved back to the US, settling in Washington, DC, where Bennet would eventually graduate from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1987 and from Yale Law School in 1993.
In the late ’90s, Sen. Bennet moved to Denver to become a director of Anschutz Investment Company, where he guided businesses as they reorganized under bankruptcy orders and restructured debt.
After working his way through Colorado’s political sphere — he once was superintendent of Denver Public Schools — Bennet was appointed to the Senate in 2009 and won a special election for the seat in 2010.
Sen. Bennet ran for president in 2020 and is known for writing legislation to train veterans in energy and cybersecurity fields, helping craft the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills — the latter removed federal restrictions on hemp cultivation — and helping overhaul the No Child Left Behind law.
Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
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Sen. Cruz was born in Calgary to a father from Cuba and a mother from Wilmington, Delaware, and grew up in Houston. He had Canadian and US citizenship at birth.
He later earned his Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University in 1992 and his Juris Doctor from Harvard University in 1995.
He advised George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, held positions at the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department, and became Texas solicitor general in 2003.
Sen. Cruz was elected to the Senate in 2012 and took office the following year. In 2014, he formally renounced his Canadian citizenship amid speculation about his eligibility to run for president, a race he lost in 2016.
“Nothing against Canada,” Sen. Cruz wrote in a statement at the time, “but I’m an American by birth, and as a US Senator, I believe I should be only an American.”
In 2018, Sen. Cruz helped pass a bipartisan bill that requires the review, declassification, and release of government records related to unsolved criminal civil rights cases.
He also authored a measure in 2023 requiring the State Department to report on efforts by the Venezuelan government to detain US citizens.
Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.)
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Born in Bangkok to an American father and a Thai mother, Sen. Duckworth had US citizenship at birth. Her father served in the US military and later worked for the United Nations, so the family moved frequently throughout Southeast Asia before settling in Hawaii.
Sen. Duckworth graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1989 and earned a master’s degree from George Washington University in 1992.
While serving in Iraq for the Army National Guard, Sen. Duckworth’s Black Hawk helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, which resulted in her losing both legs and partial use of one arm. She received a Purple Heart and continued serving in the Guard until 2014, ultimately reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.
She was elected to the House in 2012 and to the Senate in 2016.
Sen. Duckworth is known for her work on veterans’ issues, disability access, and family policy. Her Friendly Airports for Mothers Act, which requires certain airports to provide private lactation rooms, became law in 2018.
Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)
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Sen. Hirono was born in Fukushima, Japan, and moved to the US when she was nearly 8, knowing no English. Sen. Hirono is a naturalized citizen.
She grew up in Hawaii and graduated from the University of Hawaii in 1970. She graduated from Georgetown University in 1978, moved back to Hawaii, and worked in the state attorney general’s antitrust division afterward.
During her time in the Hawaii House of Representatives, she focused on consumer and worker protections. She unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2002, but was elected to the US House in 2006 and won her Senate seat in 2012.
In Congress, Sen. Hirono has focused especially on advocacy for civil rights, veterans, education, environmental protection, and Hawaii’s tourism economy.
In 2022, she authored acts to protect coral reefs, help reunite Korean War-separated families, and establish a Veterans Affairs advisory committee for veterans in US territories and freely associated states.
Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio)
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Sen. Bernie Moreno, born in Bogotá, Colombia, moved to the US at age 5. He is a naturalized citizen.
He earned a business degree from the University of Michigan in 1989. After graduating, he worked at General Motors and, by his mid-20s, became a general manager at an automotive dealership group.
In 2005, Sen. Moreno bought a car dealership near Cleveland and expanded it into the Collection Auto Group, a network of luxury dealerships. He later turned to technology, cofounding Champ Titles, a company that digitizes vehicle-title transfers.
He assumed office in 2025, becoming the first Latino to represent Ohio in the chamber. He’s focused on domestic manufacturing, auto-industry policy, border enforcement, and cryptocurrency.
In April 2025, he introduced the USA CAR Act, which would create a tax deduction for interest on loans for US-made vehicles.
Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)
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Sen. Chris Van Hollen was born in Karachi, Pakistan. At the time, his father was serving as a US Foreign Service officer, meaning Van Hollen was a US citizen at birth. He spent much of his childhood abroad before his family returned to the US.
He graduated from Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia, in 1982, earned a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University in 1985, and received a law degree from Georgetown University in 1990, attending law school at night.
Sen. Van Hollen began his political career after winning election to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1990 and to the state Senate in 1994. He was elected to the US House in 2002, where he represented Maryland’s 8th District for seven terms before winning a Senate seat in 2016.
He’s known for his work on campaign-finance transparency, disability policy, health research, and environmental protection. Sen. Van Hollen introduced the DISCLOSE Act, which would require greater disclosure of political spending, and helped pass the ABLE Act, which enables families to save for the long-term costs of caring for people with disabilities.
