Ted Cruz distanced himself from his family’s connections to Canada, saying Friday that his family never voted in Canada.
“The Internet has all sorts of fevered swamp theories, but the facts are simple,” Cruz told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview set to air on Sunday on “State of the Union.” “My mom was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She was an American citizen by birth. She’s been an American citizen all 81 years of her life. She’s never been a citizen of any other place.”
Cruz, who was born in Canada but is a naturally-born U.S. citizen, has had to aggressively push back on recent questions pushed from Donald Trump about his eligibility for the presidency. He renounced his dual Canadian citizenship in 2014. Earlier on Friday, Cruz’s campaign shared with Breitbart a copy of his mom’s birth certificate showing her born in the United States.
Cruz also got support Friday from Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee. Romney’s father had run for president even though he was born to American parents in Mexcio.
Additionally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who earlier mounted his own 2016 bid, said during an appearance on CNN that he believes Cruz is eligible to be president. “People are going to ask these questions, but Senator Lindsay Graham has no doubt that Senator Cruz is constitutionally eligible to run for president.” But Graham also added, “I have no doubt I can’t support him.”
In saying he thinks Graham is qualified, the former candidate broke with his political partner, Sen. John McCain, who was the GOP’s 2008 nominee and himself born in Panama. McCain said a day earlier that questions about Cruz’s status as a natural born citizen were legitimate.