Sen. Jesse Bright

Former Senator for Indiana

Bright was a senator from Indiana and was a Democrat. He served from 1857 to 1863.

He was previously a senator from Indiana as a Democrat from 1851 to 1857; and a senator from Indiana as a Democrat from 1845 to 1851.

Bioguide

Photo of Sen. Jesse Bright [D-IN, 1857-1863]

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Misconduct

Bright faced an allegation of disloyalty to the Union. On Jan. 13, 1862, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary recommended against expulsion. On Feb. 5, 1863, the Senate expelled him, 32-14.

Jan. 13, 1862	Senate Committee on the Judiciary recommended against expulsion
Feb. 5, 1863	Senate expelled 32-14

Legislators who enslaved Black people

Bright was among more than 1,800 legislators who enslaved Black people. The Washington Post compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents. Bright was one of them.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Mar 1845 to Feb 1862, Bright missed 1,197 of 4,051 roll call votes, which is 29.5%. This is worse than the median of 20.5% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Feb 1862. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

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

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
Dec 1845-Mar 1846	29	11	37.9%	83^rd
1846 Apr-Jul	168	43	25.6%	40^th
1846 Aug-Aug	50	5	10.0%	0^th
Dec 1846-Mar 1847	126	10	7.9%	17^th
1845 Mar-Mar	10	10	100.0%	80^th
Dec 1847-Mar 1848	82	25	30.5%	75^th
1848 Apr-Jul	116	22	19.0%	22^nd
1848 Aug-Aug	66	10	15.2%	0^th
Dec 1848-Mar 1849	80	12	15.0%	12^th
Dec 1849-Feb 1850	22	3	13.6%	0^th
1850 Mar-May	64	8	12.5%	22^nd
1850 Jun-Aug	154	17	11.0%	11^th
1850 Sep-Sep	108	22	20.4%	12^th
Dec 1850-Mar 1851	141	56	39.7%	62^nd
1849 Mar-Mar	10	1	10.0%	33^rd
Dec 1851-Mar 1852	38	25	65.8%	83^rd
1852 Apr-Jul	80	40	50.0%	83^rd
1852 Aug-Aug	91	15	16.5%	8^th
Dec 1852-Mar 1853	127	23	18.1%	25^th
1851 Mar-Mar	22	13	59.1%	92^nd
Dec 1853-Mar 1854	51	41	80.4%	92^nd
1854 Apr-Jul	230	57	24.8%	54^th
1854 Aug-Aug	64	11	17.2%	31^st
Dec 1854-Mar 1855	178	64	36.0%	71^st
1853 Mar-Apr	23	7	30.4%	42^nd
1856 Jan-Mar	32	7	21.9%	42^nd
1856 Apr-Jul	133	24	18.0%	21^st
1856 Aug-Aug	124	15	12.1%	21^st
1856 Aug-Aug	16	0	0.0%	0^th
Dec 1856-Mar 1857	144	85	59.0%	84^th
Dec 1857-Feb 1858	57	35	61.4%	93^rd
1858 Mar-May	217	64	29.5%	70^th
1858 Jun-Jun	121	20	16.5%	27^th
Dec 1858-Mar 1859	269	128	47.6%	83^rd
1857 Mar-Mar	29	6	20.7%	48^th
1858 Jun-Jun	9	1	11.1%	27^th
Dec 1859-Feb 1860	43	14	32.6%	88^th
1860 Mar-May	158	66	41.8%	81^st
1860 Jun-Jun	132	59	44.7%	79^th
Dec 1860-Mar 1861	232	65	28.0%	70^th
1859 Mar-Mar	32	2	6.2%	25^th
1860 Jun-Jun	10	1	10.0%	19^th
1861 Jul-Aug	79	32	40.5%	84^th
Dec 1861-Feb 1862	42	18	42.9%	83^rd
1861 Mar-Mar	42	4	9.5%	37^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