Home State Heroes
Of the 12 newly-elected U.S. Senators to take their seats in the 113th Congress, just four were born in the state they will represent: Republican Jeff Flake of Arizona, Republican Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Democrat Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Democrat Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin. Two senator-elects were born in New York (Connecticut’s Chris Murphy and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly) with one each in Minnesota (Virginia’s Tim Kaine), Oklahoma (Massachusetts’ Elizabeth Warren), Nevada (New Mexico’s Martin Henrich), and Virginia (Maine’s Angus King). Texas Republican Ted Cruz was born in Canada while Hawaii’s Mazie Hirono was born in Japan. Since direct elections of U.S. Senators were introduced nearly a century ago, 61.7 percent of senators were elected in their state of birth.
Why was Rafael Teodoro (Cruz) permitted to stand for the Presidency in ’16? Where was the rage and fury on the part of the “birthers”?