McDermott was the representative for Illinois’s 4th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1915 to 1917.
He was previously the representative for Illinois’s 4th congressional district as a Democrat from 1907 to 1915.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
McDermott faced an allegation of bribery by National Association of Manufacturers and other groups in June 1913, alleged by newspapers. On Dec. 9, 1913, the Select Committee to Investigate Lobby Charges recommended censure of McDermott and exonerated six other members. On Apr. 24, 1914, the House Committee on the Judiciary recommended a resolution “strongly” condemning the conduct of McDermott. On Jul. 21, 1914, he resigned. On Nov. 3, 1914, he was re-elected.
| Dec. 9, 1913 | Select Committee to Investigate Lobby Charges recommended censure of McDermott and exonerated six other members |
| Apr. 24, 1914 | House Committee on the Judiciary recommended resolution “strongly” condemning conduct of McDermott |
| Jul. 21, 1914 | Resigned. |
| Nov. 3, 1914 | Re-elected. |
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Dec 1907 to Mar 1917, McDermott missed 516 of 1,211 roll call votes, which is 42.6%. This is much worse than the median of 24.9% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 1917. 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.
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
