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ArnoldLayne

(2,209 posts)
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:43 PM 17 hrs ago

Can Senator Van Hollen legally be allowed to run for President in 2028?

I checked and saw he was born in Karachi, Pakistan. His parents worked for the American Government though. I was just wondering if he was born on US territory in an Embassy making it legal like John McCain being born in the Panama Canal Zone. I hope Senator Van Hollen would be eligible to run for the Presidency.

16 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Can Senator Van Hollen legally be allowed to run for President in 2028? (Original Post) ArnoldLayne 17 hrs ago OP
I think "natural born citzen" is the criteria SSJVegeta 17 hrs ago #1
I was wondering he seems like he would be a very good candidate ArnoldLayne 17 hrs ago #3
Yes he can just like Sen. John McCain. He was born in Panama. SalamanderSleeps 17 hrs ago #2
Both his parents are/were citizens dflprincess 17 hrs ago #4
Yes, he and his parents were and are U.S. citizens. elleng 17 hrs ago #5
Both his parents were US Citizens, right? RandomNumbers 17 hrs ago #6
I'm more concerned about the Logan act Tickle 17 hrs ago #7
The Logan Act applies only to private citizens. Van Hollen is a Senator. Ocelot II 15 hrs ago #14
I believe they can. It almost doesn't matter Tickle 15 hrs ago #15
Of course he can. Progressive dog 17 hrs ago #8
Yes. Mike 03 17 hrs ago #9
I'm just crossing my fingers, and hoping that "Orange Baby Man" will choke on his own formula. eom SalamanderSleeps 16 hrs ago #11
I'm sure Ted Cruz will object, while running himself. OnDoutside 16 hrs ago #10
He's great flamingdem 16 hrs ago #12
Here are his progressive vote scores chowder66 16 hrs ago #13
He definitely would have my vote also. ArnoldLayne 15 hrs ago #16

SSJVegeta

(353 posts)
1. I think "natural born citzen" is the criteria
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:47 PM
17 hrs ago

Which im guessing he is based on what you are saying.

SalamanderSleeps

(770 posts)
2. Yes he can just like Sen. John McCain. He was born in Panama.
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:48 PM
17 hrs ago

Foreign, and Armed, Service kids are "necessary" citizens.

Who would want to serve their country overseas if they had to leave their progeny behind?

But then, this is the era of "The Orange Stain."

dflprincess

(28,760 posts)
4. Both his parents are/were citizens
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:50 PM
17 hrs ago

So, yes he was born a citizen even though he was not born in the U.S.

elleng

(139,192 posts)
5. Yes, he and his parents were and are U.S. citizens.
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:50 PM
17 hrs ago

I'm glad he is 'my' senator, and hope he remains such.

Van Hollen was born in Karachi, Pakistan, the eldest of three children of American parents, Edith Eliza (née Farnsworth) and Christopher Van Hollen.[6][7] His father was a Foreign Service officer who served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs (1969–1972) and U.S. ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives (1972–1976);[8] his mother worked in the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department, where she served as chief of the intelligence bureau for South Asia.[7][9] He spent parts of his early life in Pakistan, Turkey, India, and Sri Lanka.[9][10] He returned to the United States for his junior year of high school, and attended Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where his grandfather had once taught.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Van_Hollen

RandomNumbers

(18,533 posts)
6. Both his parents were US Citizens, right?
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:51 PM
17 hrs ago

So by any normal reading, he is eligible. (But then, our opponents are not normal, so there's that.)

https://www.history.com/articles/what-are-the-qualifications-to-be-president-of-the-united-states

The Founders universally supported a citizenship requirement, and there wouldn’t have been any confusion about what it meant to be a “natural born” citizen. That language was common in 18th-century British law, which recognized all children born to British parents as “natural-born subjects,” even if they were born outside the British Empire.

Note that the framers were careful to include the clause “​​at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution,” to waive the “natural-born” requirement for prominent delegates like Robert Morris and James Wilson, who were born to British parents outside of the American Colonies (England and Scotland respectively).

Tickle

(4,003 posts)
7. I'm more concerned about the Logan act
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:54 PM
17 hrs ago

He was rejected rejected and rejected. Then he gets a call to see him. Sounds like a set up to me

Tickle

(4,003 posts)
15. I believe they can. It almost doesn't matter
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 06:20 PM
15 hrs ago

The administration wouldn't win, but they could still bankrupt him in trying.

Mike 03

(18,379 posts)
9. Yes.
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 04:57 PM
17 hrs ago

But expect Trump to play dirt as hell with anyone who looks like a promising rival, emulating Putin's tactics. Expect to see more of our best and brightest investigated and accused of "mortgage fraud" and tax evasion or whatever filthy and frivolous allegations his personal DOJ can throw at them.

We'll need to figure out a tactic to deal with Putinesque tactics like those. Maybe there are legal mechanisms in the United States that will make it harder to do this here than in Russia, where it proceeds unencumbered, decade after decade.

SalamanderSleeps

(770 posts)
11. I'm just crossing my fingers, and hoping that "Orange Baby Man" will choke on his own formula. eom
Fri Apr 18, 2025, 05:09 PM
16 hrs ago
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