I declare, of my own free will, that I am a dual citizen of the United States of America and the Kingdom of Sweden. I understand that my strong connection to a foreign nation is a cause of concern for many voters, and wish to acknowledge and assuage any reservations they may have.
I have been a registered citizen of Sweden since July 2017, although I was granted automatic citizenship at birth. My father was born in Sweden and immigrated to the United States in July, 1969. My parents got married in June, 1997 and I was born in December, 1999. Because my father had never naturalized and my parents were married at the time of my birth, I was able to claim citizenship by birthright. I was unaware of my Swedish citizenship until November, 2016, when I called the Swedish embassy in Washington, D.C. to inquire about getting Swedish citizenship. This initial phone call took place on November 9th, 2016. On November 14th, 2016, I spoke to an official at the embassy who had listened to the message I had left for her on November 9th, who informed me that I was already a Swedish citizen. However, since I was born in the U.S., the Swedish government did not have any legal record of me or my birth. In April, 2017, I submitted my coordination number application at the Swedish General Consulate in Boston, Massachusetts. This was essentially an application to be put into the population registry and establish a legal record of my citizenship in Sweden. I received a letter in July 2017 informing me that my registration had been approved. In August 2017, I submitted my passport application at the Swedish General Consulate in New York City. I had my passport shipped to the Swedish General Consulate in Boston, where I picked it up in November 2017.
In the course of my duties as an elected representative of the people of the United States of America, or as an employee of the government of said nation, I will not unduly prioritize the needs or interests of the kingdom of Sweden, its leaders, or its people, ahead of those of the United States or any of its other allies.
I consider my ties to Sweden to be the furthest thing from a detriment. Sweden is one of our strongest allies, and this positive prior connection could only be helpful in terms of establishing a great relationship with their national leaders and the people of Sweden as a whole.