Benjamin Tillman, former Senator for South Carolina

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Tillman was a senator from South Carolina and was a Democrat. He served from 1907 to 1919.

He was previously a senator from South Carolina as a Democrat from 1901 to 1907; and a senator from South Carolina as a Democrat from 1895 to 1901.

Misconduct

Tillman had an altercation on February 22, 1902 in which he accused Sen. McLaurin of treachery, then McLaurin accused Tillman of lying. Tillman then attacked McLaurin physically. After a fight almost broke out again, the Senate censured them both 54-12.

Feb. 22, 1902	Senate referred to Committee on Privileges and Elections and both senators were declared in contempt of the Senate and would not be allowed to speak on the floor except at the request of another senator. Another senator did so and both apologized although in such an unpleasant manner the fight almost broke out again.
Feb. 28, 1902	Committee on Privileges and Elections recommended that both should receive the same punishment even though Tillman started it. The punishment was censure and the suspension of duties they'd already been experiencing.
Feb. 28, 1902	Senate censured 54-12, with 22 senators not voting.

Photo of Sen. Benjamin Tillman [D-SC, 1907-1919]

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Dec 1895 to Jul 1918, Tillman missed 1,603 of 3,094 roll call votes, which is 51.8%. This is much worse than the median of 29.3% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Jul 1918. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
Dec 1895-Feb 1896	36	16	44.4%	83^rd
1896 Mar-May	66	56	84.8%	83^rd
1896 Jun-Jun	24	18	75.0%	67^th
Dec 1896-Mar 1897	71	37	52.1%	67^th
1897 Mar-Jul	200	106	53.0%	50^th
Dec 1897-Feb 1898	26	4	15.4%	25^th
1898 Mar-May	51	17	33.3%	38^th
1898 Jun-Jul	53	23	43.4%	38^th
Dec 1898-Mar 1899	51	20	39.2%	62^nd
Dec 1899-Feb 1900	20	2	10.0%	0^th
1900 Mar-May	57	19	33.3%	36^th
1900 Jun-Jun	12	2	16.7%	20^th
Dec 1900-Mar 1901	80	20	25.0%	27^th
Dec 1901-Feb 1902	26	14	53.8%	83^rd
1902 Mar-May	49	28	57.1%	83^rd
1902 Jun-Jun	23	11	47.8%	83^rd
1903 Jan-Mar	18	6	33.3%	25^th
1901 Mar-Mar	1	1	100.0%	67^th
Dec 1903-Apr 1904	36	24	66.7%	93^rd
Dec 1904-Mar 1905	56	43	76.8%	94^th
1906 Jan-Feb	8	4	50.0%	72^nd
1906 Mar-May	49	9	18.4%	67^th
1906 Jun-Jun	31	14	45.2%	61^st
1907 Jan-Mar	38	8	21.1%	43^rd
1908 Mar-May	49	49	100.0%	92^nd
1909 Jan-Mar	35	21	60.0%	93^rd
1909 Apr-Aug	130	55	42.3%	83^rd
1910 Jan-Feb	7	1	14.3%	7^th
1910 Mar-May	36	36	100.0%	93^rd
1910 Jun-Jun	41	41	100.0%	83^rd
Dec 1910-Mar 1911	52	29	55.8%	94^th
1911 May-Aug	94	94	100.0%	98^th
Dec 1911-Mar 1912	35	22	62.9%	90^th
1912 Apr-Jul	105	47	44.8%	69^th
1912 Aug-Aug	51	18	35.3%	71^st
Dec 1912-Mar 1913	111	64	57.7%	92^nd
1913 Apr-Jul	38	8	21.1%	45^th
1913 Aug-Nov	109	57	52.3%	82^nd
1913 Dec-Dec	1	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1913-Feb 1914	59	24	40.7%	79^th
1914 Mar-May	58	16	27.6%	40^th
1914 Jun-Aug	121	71	58.7%	78^th
1914 Sep-Oct	64	64	100.0%	94^th
Dec 1914-Mar 1915	117	59	50.4%	78^th
1913 Mar-Mar	5	1	20.0%	23^rd
Dec 1915-Feb 1916	40	15	37.5%	73^rd
1916 Mar-May	106	28	26.4%	45^th
1916 Jun-Aug	88	32	36.4%	60^th
1916 Sep-Sep	13	13	100.0%	87^th
Dec 1916-Mar 1917	159	47	29.6%	54^th
1917 Apr-Jun	63	62	98.4%	96^th
1917 Jul-Sep	103	68	66.0%	92^nd
1917 Oct-Oct	11	11	100.0%	80^th
Dec 1917-Feb 1918	34	17	50.0%	79^th
1918 Mar-May	54	17	31.5%	38^th
1918 Jun-Aug	22	13	59.1%	87^th
1917 Mar-Mar	1	1	100.0%	83^rd

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo

Sen. Benjamin Tillman

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Misconduct

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Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources