Huey Long, former Senator for Louisiana

On GovTrack Insider:

Restoring the Armed Career Criminal Act would mandate 15-year minimum prison sentences for certain…

Should a felon be committed for at least 15 years, even if that one specific crime wouldn’t merit a sentence nearly that long, if they’ve… Sep 24, 2018

Depression Side Effect Labeling Awareness Act would require more prominent warnings of depression…

About 37.2% of American adults use medications with depression and the risk of suicide as a potential side effect. Should the risks be more… Sep 21, 2018

Long was a senator from Louisiana and was a Democrat. He served from 1932 to 1935.

Alleged misconduct & resolution

Long faced allegations of previously using Louisiana state employees and resources for the campaign of Sen. John Overton and promising release to prisoners in exchange for supporting Overton at the polls. By Jun. 16, 1934, the investigating committees concluded that no specific action was warranted, partly because many of the contested activities were legal in Louisiana at that time and partly due to a lack of evidence. On Sep. 1, 1935, Long was assassinated before he could finish his Senate term or complete his campaign to run for president.

Sep. 21, 1932	Special Committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures referred to committee
Mar. 4, 1933	Senate seated John Overton
Apr. 14, 1933	Senate Committee on the Judiciary referred to committee
Jan. 10, 1934	Committee on Privileges and Elections referred to committee
Jan. 16, 1934	Special Committee to Investigate Campaign Expenditures report presented to Senate
Mar. 19, 1934	Senate Committee on the Judiciary report presented to Senate
Jun. 16, 1934	Committee on Privileges and Elections report presented to Senate
Jun. 16, 1934	Senate all three committees concluded that no specific action was warranted, partly because many of the contested activities were legal in Louisiana at that time and partly due to a lack of evidence (often resulting from questionable campaign finance recordkeeping practices). Thus, both Long and Overton retained their seats.
Sep. 1, 1935	Long was assassinated before he could finish his Senate term or complete his campaign to run for president.

Photo of Sen. Huey Long [D-LA, 1932-1935]

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Dec 1931 to Aug 1935, Long missed 300 of 640 roll call votes, which is 46.9%. This is much worse than the median of 18.9% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Aug 1935. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
Dec 1931-Feb 1932	63	56	88.9%	98^th
1932 Mar-May	90	58	64.4%	98^th
1932 Jun-Jul	64	53	82.8%	98^th
Dec 1932-Mar 1933	63	34	54.0%	94^th
1933 Mar-Jun	97	11	11.3%	40^th
1934 Jan-Jun	130	31	23.8%	71^st
1933 Mar-Mar	1	0	0.0%	0^th
1935 Jan-Mar	37	15	40.5%	97^th
1935 Apr-Jun	49	17	34.7%	93^rd
1935 Jul-Aug	46	25	54.3%	97^th

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

Huey Long is pronounced:

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. Huey Long

Links

Follow GovTrack on social media for more updates:

On GovTrack Insider:

Alleged misconduct & resolution

I have an opinion I want to share.

I need help, have a question, or want to schedule a tour.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources