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Rep. Richard French

Former Representative for Kentucky’s 9th District

French was the representative for Kentucky’s 9th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1847 to 1849.

He was previously the representative for Kentucky’s 9th congressional district as a Democrat from 1843 to 1845; and the representative for Kentucky’s 11th congressional district as a Jackson from 1835 to 1837.

Legislators who enslaved Black people

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compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents.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

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Dec 1835 to Mar 1849, French missed 176 of 1,534 roll call votes, which is 11.5%. This is better than the median of 24.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 1849. 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...

Primary Sources

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