Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are set to go head-to-head in a presidential debate hosted by ABC on Sept. 10 as the pair battle for America’s support in their respective bids for the White House.
Trump famously hails from New York, and should Harris be elected, she would be the second president born in California.
In total, 21 states can claim to be the birthplace of at least one commander-in-chief, but from which states hail the most American leaders? Newsweek has mapped the birth states of all of them.
The U.S. has seen 45 presidents (Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms) come from diverse regions of the country, but a few states stand out as the most common birthplaces of America’s leaders. Virginia, Ohio, and New York lead the list, with other states like Massachusetts and North Carolina also playing significant roles in producing presidents.
Virginia, often referred to as the “Mother of Presidents,” boasts the highest number of presidential births. Eight presidents were born in the state, including four of the first five: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Virginia has an advantage over many of the other states in this sense, as it was one of the 13 original states formed after the U.S. gained independence.
Ohio follows closely, claiming seven presidents as natives. Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Howard Taft, and Warren G. Harding were all born here.
New York has produced five presidents, the first being Martin Van Buren – the first president born after the Declaration of Independence. Other notable New York-born presidents include both Roosevelts, Theodore and Franklin.
Massachusetts has contributed four presidents. These include John Adams, the second president, and his son, John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. The other two are John F. Kennedy, who served during the early 1960s, and George H.W. Bush, who later moved to Texas.
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Vermont are each the birthplace of two U.S. presidents. Among these, North Carolina was home to James K. Polk and Andrew Johnson, while Pennsylvania claims James Buchanan and Joe Biden. Texas saw the births of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson, and Vermont produced Chester A. Arthur and Calvin Coolidge.
The states that have produced one president are Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and South Carolina.
Newsweek has also mapped vice presidents’ birth states.
New York emerged at the top of the list with eight vice presidents born in the state, with Massachusetts following, claiming four.
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