# Has any elected representative ever been elected in more than one country? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955 "2011-01-25T19:51:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/21 "2011-01-26T18:54:50Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Indeed. Sam Houston was President of the Republic of Texas, then US Senator and later governor of the state of Texas. As an aside, this gives rise to one of my favourite trivia trick questions: “What is the largest city in the United States named after a president?” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/22 "2011-01-26T18:59:24Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Indeed. Sam Houston was President of the Republic of Texas, then US Senator and later governor of the state of Texas. Houston made the jump twice. Prior to being elected as President of Texas he had been elected to office in the United States (as a Tennessee congressman and governor). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/23 "2011-01-26T19:04:33Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > As an aside, this gives rise to one of my favourite trivia trick questions: “What is the largest city in the United States named after a president?” How about "What is the largest city in the United States named after a king?"New York. It wasn’t named for the province of York. It was named after the Duke of York, who became King James II. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/24 "2011-01-26T19:08:43Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How about “What is the largest city in the United States named after a king?” And you could say that the largest city in the U.S. named after a queen is Los Angeles, named after Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles (Our Lady the Queen of the Angels). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/25 "2011-01-26T19:22:03Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Thomas Chittenden was Governor of that feared geo-political power-house, The Republic of Vermont All roads lead to Montpelier. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/26 "2011-01-26T21:30:51Z")
The late president of Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, had been member of the French parliament and minister. I’d guess there has been other similar examples (especially if the bar is quite low, as in being elected to the parliament of two countries) in former colonial powers. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/27 "2011-01-26T21:46:04Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Houston made the jump twice. Prior to being elected as President of Texas he had been elected to office in the United States (as a Tennessee congressman and governor). And he could have been Governor of the _Confederate_ State of Texas–but he refused to take the oath of loyalty & was [removed from office](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Houston#Governor_of_Texas). > [@](#): > > Fellow-Citizens, in the name of your rights and liberties, which I believe have been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the nationality of Texas, which has been betrayed by the Convention, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the Constitution of Texas, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of my own conscience and manhood, which this Convention would degrade by dragging me before it, to pander to the malice of my enemies, I refuse to take this oath. I deny the power of this Convention to speak for Texas…I protest…against all the acts and doings of this convention and I declare them null and void. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/28 "2011-01-26T22:20:04Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > The late president of Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, had been member of the French parliament and minister. > > I’d guess there has been other similar examples (especially if the bar is quite low, as in being elected to the parliament of two countries) in former colonial powers. I thought I heard about a Canadian politician going back to his/her newly independent homeland to run for office, but maybe I’m just making that up. At any rate, I was looking through a Wikipedia list of East Timorese politicians at random, and it claimed that [Manuel Tilman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Tilman) was both a Portuguese and an East Timorese representative at different times. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/29 "2011-01-26T23:24:20Z")
Not an elected representative, but I thought it might be interesting to mention that [Ismail Mahomed](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Mahomed) was, for a time, simultaneously Chief Justice of Namibia and Chief Justice of South Africa. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/30 "2011-01-27T19:43:49Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I’d guess there has been other similar examples (especially if the bar is quite low, as in being elected to the parliament of two countries) in former colonial powers. There are certainly many similar examples, but they aren’t exactly what the OP is looking for. What happened to politicians such as Boigny is that the territory they lived on switched from being part of one country to being part of another. The same can be said for the US Confederate politicians during the Civil War, and for the Irish politicians in the early days after independence. OTOH, Gerry Adams being elected in Northern Ireland first, and then getting a seat in the Irish parliament (mentioned by the OP himself) seems like an adequate answer. What matters in this case is that the Irish people live in two neighbouring but different countries. I suspect we may find similar cases among members of other national groups that exist in two or more different countries. Perhaps a Kurd in Iraq and Turkey, or perhaps a member of some ethnic group in two different African countries. The problem is that many countries are not representative democracies, and even among those that are, it may be difficult for a member of a national minority to be elected. Honestly, **Keeve** ’s answer of Mordechai Nurock in Latvia and Israel seems like the best one so far. > [@hogarth](#): > > I thought I heard about a Canadian politician going back to his/her newly independent homeland to run for office, but maybe I’m just making that up. [Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaira_V%C4%AB%C4%B7e-Freiberga) spent most of her life in Canada, and was a professor at the University of Montreal for 33 years before going back to Latvia to become president, but she doesn’t seem to actually have been involved in Canadian electoral politics. Though maybe you were thinking about someone else. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/31 "2011-01-27T20:28:23Z")
**Sam Houston** was a representative from and later governor of Tennessee, then President (twice) of the independent Republic of Texas. After Texas joined the Union, he was a Senator from it and then its Governor. In between he was a soldier and a drunk. Utterly fascinating life. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/32 "2011-01-27T21:33:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > How about "What is the largest city in the United States named after a king?"New York. It wasn’t named for the province of York. It was named after the Duke of York, who became King James II. In that case, it wasn’t named after a king; it was named after someone who later became a king. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/33 "2011-01-28T16:34:09Z")
Not an example of dual election, but R.B Bennett was Prime Minister of Canada and later appointed to the Lords as Viscount Bennett. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955/34 "2011-01-28T17:23:00Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > In that case, it wasn’t named after a king; it was named after someone who later became a king. It was named after James Stuart. James Stuart was a king. Let’s not get into temporal issues. Otherwise we can argue that Georgia isn’t named after a king - it was named after a king, but George isn’t king anymore. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-elected-representative-ever-been-elected-in-more-than-one-country/568955.md?page=1)