Lorimer was a senator from Illinois and was a Republican. He served from 1909 to 1913.
He was previously the representative for Illinois’s 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1907 to 1909; the representative for Illinois’s 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1905 to 1907; the representative for Illinois’s 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1903 to 1905; the representative for Illinois’s 2nd congressional district as a Republican from 1899 to 1901; and the representative for Illinois’s 2nd congressional district as a Republican from 1895 to 1899.
Misconduct
Lorimer committed electoral misconduct, bribery, and corruption of a state legislature in order to secure election to the Senate (this was immediately before the 17th Amendement passed providing for direct election of senators). On Mar. 1, 1911, the Senate vote to unseat him failed 40-46. But on Jul. 13, 1912, the Senate unseated him by a vote of 55-28.
| Jun. 1, 1910 | Senate Lorimer asked for an investigation in light of Chicago Tribune allegations |
| Dec. 21, 1910 | Committee on Privileges and Elections majority report exonerated him while minority reports did not |
| Mar. 1, 1911 | Senate vote to unseat failed 40-46 |
| Jun. 7, 1911 | Senate subcomittee created out of Committee on Privileges and Elections |
| May. 20, 1912 | Committee on Privileges and Elections Subcommittee issued another majority and minority report, the former recommending he keep the seat and the minority that he not |
| Jul. 13, 1912 | Senate unseated by a vote of 55-28 |
![Photo of Sen. William Lorimer [R-IL, 1909-1913]](/static/legislator-photos/406935-200px.jpeg)
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jun 1909 to Jul 1912, Lorimer missed 250 of 401 roll call votes, which is 62.3%. This is much worse than the median of 29.5% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Jul 1912. 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.
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
