Sen. John Warfield Johnston

Former Senator for Virginia

Johnston was a senator from Virginia and was a Democrat. He served from 1877 to 1883.

He was previously a senator from Virginia as a Democrat from 1870 to 1877.

Bioguide

Photo of Sen. John Warfield Johnston [D-VA, 1877-1883]

Legislators who enslaved Black people

Johnston 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compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents. Johnston was one of them.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1870 to Mar 1883, Johnston missed 2,003 of 4,419 roll call votes, which is 45.3%. This is worse than the median of 30.8% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Mar 1883. 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 1869-Feb 1870	45	12	26.7%	88^th
1870 Mar-May	168	37	22.0%	0^th
1870 Jun-Jul	215	67	31.2%	25^th
Dec 1870-Mar 1871	194	58	29.9%	56^th
1871 Mar-Apr	61	12	19.7%	54^th
Dec 1871-Feb 1872	79	12	15.2%	31^st
1872 Mar-May	339	103	30.4%	29^th
1872 Jun-Jun	93	35	37.6%	50^th
Dec 1872-Mar 1873	195	76	39.0%	79^th
1871 May-May	36	34	94.4%	92^nd
Dec 1873-Feb 1874	57	26	45.6%	88^th
1874 Mar-May	116	25	21.6%	31^st
1874 Jun-Jun	82	31	37.8%	56^th
Dec 1874-Mar 1875	149	37	24.8%	50^th
1873 Mar-Mar	16	16	100.0%	94^th
Dec 1875-Mar 1876	89	25	28.1%	50^th
1876 Apr-Jul	186	126	67.7%	87^th
1876 Aug-Aug	51	51	100.0%	96^th
Dec 1876-Mar 1877	84	15	17.9%	25^th
1875 Mar-Mar	24	20	83.3%	91^st
1877 Oct-Dec	71	58	81.7%	80^th
Dec 1877-Feb 1878	69	7	10.1%	10^th
1878 Mar-May	110	31	28.2%	42^nd
1878 Jun-Jun	83	28	33.7%	55^th
Dec 1878-Mar 1879	236	214	90.7%	98^th
1877 Mar-Mar	15	3	20.0%	41^st
1879 Mar-Jul	191	134	70.2%	89^th
Dec 1879-Feb 1880	49	25	51.0%	82^nd
1880 Mar-May	127	57	44.9%	71^st
1880 Jun-Jun	39	15	38.5%	62^nd
Dec 1880-Mar 1881	164	57	34.8%	67^th
Dec 1881-Mar 1882	96	44	45.8%	72^nd
1882 Apr-Jul	212	111	52.4%	85^th
1882 Aug-Aug	38	38	100.0%	90^th
Dec 1882-Mar 1883	401	310	77.3%	95^th
1881 Mar-Mar	178	41	23.0%	42^nd
1881 Oct-Oct	61	12	19.7%	38^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

Sen. John Warfield Johnston

Legislators who enslaved Black people

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Voting Record

Missed Votes

Primary Sources