--- title: Where Presidents Were Born: See Every Contender's Birthplace description: Besides Ted Cruz, only one major contender has been born outside the current U.S. canonical: https://time.com/4205119/presidential-candidates-birthplace-ted-cruz-donald-trump/ author: Chris Wilson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-03T16:01:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:42:07.118Z article:section: Politics og:title: See the Birthplace of Every Presidential Contender in One Map og:description: Besides Ted Cruz, only one major contender has been born outside the current U.S. og:url: https://time.com/4205119/presidential-candidates-birthplace-ted-cruz-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See the Birthplace of Every Presidential Contender in One Map twitter:description: Besides Ted Cruz, only one major contender has been born outside the current U.S. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Birthplace of Every Presidential Contender in One Map  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Feb 3, 2016 4:01 PM UTC  by [Chris Wilson](https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/)  ## Chris Wilson Feb 3, 2016 4:01 PM UTC Donald Trump has [repeatedly questioned](http://time.com/4200379/donald-trump-ted-cruz-anchor-baby/) whether Ted Cruz, who was born to an American mother in Canada, is eligible to be president—a line of attack Trump is unlikely to drop since Cruz beat him in the Iowa caucuses. The Supreme Court has [never weighed in](http://time.com/3754408/ted-cruz-history-natural-born/) on who qualifies as a “natural born citizen,” though [most legal experts agree](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2015/mar/26/ted-cruz-born-canada-eligible-run-president-update/) that Cruz is a legitimate candidate. The following map shows the birthplace of every president and his main opponent, as defined by the National Archives’ [history of electoral college results](http://www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/scores.html). Like Cruz, 2008 Republican nominee John McCain was born outside the U.S., on the Coco Solo Naval Air Station in the Panama Canal Zone. Few questioned his eligibility since his parents were American. And while Barry Goldwater was born in the current U.S., in what is now Arizona, he was born before it was granted statehood. Of course, all the early presidents were born before there was a United States to be a citizen of, though the Constitution specifically grant eligibility to anyone who was a “Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4205119/presidential-candidates-birthplace-ted-cruz-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4205119/presidential-candidates-birthplace-ted-cruz-donald-trump/"},"headline":"The Birthplace of Every Presidential Contender in One Map","datePublished":"2016-02-03T16:01:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:42:07.118Z","description":"Besides Ted Cruz, only one major contender has been born outside the current U.S.","url":"https://time.com/4205119/presidential-candidates-birthplace-ted-cruz-donald-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","ted cruz"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Wilson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-wilson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4205119/presidential-candidates-birthplace-ted-cruz-donald-trump/","name":"The Birthplace of Every Presidential Contender in One Map"}}]}] ```