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Rep. William Orlando Butler

Former Representative for Kentucky’s 13th District

Butler was the representative for Kentucky’s 13th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1839 to 1843.

Legislators who enslaved Black people

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compiled the first database of slaveholding members of Congress by examining thousands of pages of census records and historical documents.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

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Dec 1839 to Mar 1843, Butler missed 556 of 1,725 roll call votes, which is 32.2%. This is worse than the median of 26.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 1843. 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.

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Primary Sources

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