List of United States Congress members killed or wounded in office
Introduction 230x230pxSince the United States Congress was established with the 1st Congress in 1789, fifteen of its members have been killed while in office, and fourteen have suffered serious injuries from attacks. The members of Congress were either injured or killed by someone intending serious harm, or there is evidence of lethal intent by an unknown assailant (such as the two congressmen who died of the National Hotel disease). The first member of Congress to be killed or wounded in office was Henry Wharton Conway who was killed in a duel in 1827.The most recent death occurred in 1983 when Korean Air Lines Flight 007, carrying Larry McDonald, was shot down over the Pacific Ocean. The most recent Congress member to be injured was Angie Craig who was assaulted in 2023.All of the 15 Congressmen killed in office were male and 10 were Democrats, four were Republicans, and one was a Democratic-Republican. Four members died in duels, and a total of ten (three senators, six members of the House of Representatives, and one territory delegate to the House) died from gunshot wounds.Fourteen Congress members have been wounded while in office. Six of the wounded were Republicans, six were Democrats, and one member each from the Anti-Jacksonian and Whig parties. Two were women, and four were senators. Five of those injured were wounded during the 1954 United States Capitol shooting incident.
Lists ===Killed==='''Party colors:''' MemberChamber State(district) Date of incident Perpetrator(s)Cause Incident Henry Wharton Conway   Henry Wharton ConwayHouse Arkansas Territory(At-large delegate) October 29, 1827 Robert CrittendenDuel Died 11 days after being shot in the chest during a duel with Crittenden near the confluence of the White and Mississippi rivers Spencer Darwin Pettis   –House Missouri(1st at-large seat) August 28, 1831 Thomas BiddleDuel Both Pettis and Biddle sustained fatal gunshot wounds during a duel on Bloody Island in Illinois. Jonathan Cilley   Jonathan CilleyHouse Maine(3rd district) February 24, 1838 William GravesDuel Shot by Graves, the Whig Congressman from Kentucky's 8th district, during a duel on the Marlboro Pike in Maryland John Gallagher Montgomery   –House Pennsylvania(12th district) April 24, 1857 Unknown (disputed) Poisoning(disputed) Several people staying at the National Hotel in Washington, D.C., died of National Hotel disease during this time period. It is disputed whether the "disease" was due to deliberate poisoning or accidental food poisoning. John A. Quitman   John QuitmanHouse Mississippi(5th district) July 17, 1858 David Colbreth Broderick   David BroderickSenate California(Senator) September 13, 1859 David TerryDuel Broderick and Terry, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California, took part in a duel in San Francisco. Broderick was shot and died three days later. Edward Dickinson Baker   Edward BakerSenate Oregon(Senator) October 21, 1861 7th Brigade, 4th Division of the Confederate Army of the Potomac (under the command of Nathan Evans)Battle Died during the Battle of Ball's Bluff, while assigned command of a brigade in Brigadier General Charles Pomeroy Stone's division, guarding fords along the Potomac River in Virginia. The Confederate soldiers were commanded by Brigadier General Nathan George Evans. Cornelius S. Hamilton   100pxHouse Ohio(8th district) December 22, 1867 Thomas HamiltonMurder Killed by his insane 18-year-old son, Thomas, in Marysville, Ohio. James M. Hinds   133x133pxHouse Arkansas(2nd district) October 22, 1868 George ClarkAssassination Killed in Indian Bays in Monroe County, Arkansas, after being shot in the back by George A. Clark, a member of the Ku Klux Klan and the secretary of the Democratic committee of the county Thomas Haughey   Thomas HaugheyHouse Alabama(6th district) July 31, 1869 Collins (first name not known)Murder At a speech by Haughey in Courtland, Alabama, he and Collins got into an argument. This escalated into a fist fight and ended with Collins shooting Haughey in the stomach. Haughey died five days later. John M. Pinckney   John PinckneyHouse Texas(8th district) April 24, 1905 Unknown (riot started by J. N. Brown)Mass shooting A political event in Hempstead, Texas, turned violent when one of the participants, J. N. Brown, began shooting. Other attendees began to shoot as well and a riot broke out. Pinckney, his brother Tom, and Brown were all killed at the scene. Huey Long   Huey LongSenate Louisiana(Senator) September 8, 1935 Carl Weiss (possibly)Assassination Died two days after Weiss fired a handgun at him at close range inside the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge Robert F. Kennedy   Robert F. KennedySenate New York(Senator) June 5, 1968 Sirhan SirhanAssassination Shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after giving his victory speech in the California primary; he died about 25 hours later. Leo Ryan   Leo RyanHouse California(11th district) November 18, 1978 Peoples Temple (under the direction of Jim Jones)Mass shooting While on an official visit to Guyana to investigate the activities of the Peoples Temple group led by Jim Jones, Ryan was shot multiple times while boarding an airplane leaving Jonestown. Larry McDonald   Larry McDonaldHouse Georgia(7th district) September 1, 1983 Soviet Far East District Air Defense Forces Aircraft shootdown McDonald was a passenger on board Korean Air Lines Flight 007 which was shot down over the Sea of Japan near Sakhalin island by Soviet interceptors piloted by Major Gennadiy Osipovich on the orders of General Anatoly Kornukov, Commander of Sokol Air Base.===Wounded==='''Party colors:''' Member State(district) Date of incident Perpetrator(s)Cause Incident William Stanbery   William Stanberry Ohio(8th district)  April 13, 1832 Sam HoustonAssault After Stanbery accused Houston of profiteering off Andrew Jackson's forced relocation of Native Americans, Houston confronted Stanbery in Washington, D.C., and beat him repeatedly with a hickory walking stick. During the fight Stanbery pulled a gun, placed it on Houston's chest, and pulled the trigger, but the gun misfired. Alexander H. Stephens   Alexander H. Stephens Georgia(8th district)  September 4, 1848 Francis H. ConeAssault Francis Cone, an Associate Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, called Stephens a "traitor to the South" due to Stephens' move to table the Clayton Compromise. When confronted about this in front of Atlanta's Thompson Hotel, Stephens struck Cone with his walking stick and Cone responded by stabbing Stephens 6 times in the hand and chest. Charles Sumner   Charles Sumner Massachusetts(Senator) May 22, 1856 Preston BrooksAssault Representative Preston Brooks, a Democrat from South Carolina's 4th district, assaulted Sumner with a cane on the floor of the Senate in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The attack followed Sumner's verbal attacks on pro-slavery politicians (including Brooks' relative, Senator Andrew Butler). Josiah Bushnell Grinnell   Josiah Grinnell Iowa(4th district) June 14, 1866 Lovell RousseauAssault Grinnell was assaulted with an iron-tipped cane by Rousseau, an Unconditional Unionist Congressman from Kentucky's 7th district, on the east portico of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., in retaliation for derogatory statements he made earlier. Grinnell was pummeled on the "head and face until the cane broke," and was heavily bruised. Alvin Morell Bentley   Alvin Bentley Michigan(8th district)  March 1, 1954 Rafael Cancel Miranda,Andres Figueroa Cordero,Irvin Flores,Lolita Lebrón Shooting 1954 Capitol shooting: Armed Puerto Rican nationalists shot the representatives from the Ladies Gallery of the House of Representatives in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Clifford Davis   Clifford Davis Tennessee(10th district) George Hyde Fallon   George Fallon Maryland(4th district) Ben F. Jensen   Ben Jensen Iowa(7th district) Kenneth A. Roberts   Kenneth Roberts Alabama(4th district) John C. Stennis   John Stennis Mississippi(Senator) January 29, 1973 Tyrone Marshall, John Marshall, Derrick HollowayMugging Stennis was shot twice outside his home in Washington, D.C., during a mugging. Gabby Giffords   Gabrielle Giffords Arizona(8th district) January 8, 2011 Jared Lee Loughner Shooting Giffords was shot in the head during the 2011 Tucson shooting, which occurred at a constituency meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona. Steve Scalise   Steve Scalise Louisiana(1st district) June 14, 2017 James T. Hodgkinson IIIShooting Scalise was shot in the hip by a gunman using a rifle during a practice session for the 2017 Congressional Baseball Game at the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park in Alexandria, Virginia. Rand Paul   Rand Paul Kentucky(Senator) November 3, 2017 Rene BoucherAssault Paul was tackled from behind by his neighbor, Rene Boucher, during an altercation. Paul sustained five fractured ribs, including three displaced fractures, as well as "cuts around his mouth". Angie Craig   Angie Craig Minnesota() February 9, 2023 Kendrick Hamline Assault Craig was punched and grabbed by the neck by Hamline in the elevator of her Washington, D.C., apartment. Craig defended herself from Hamline and sustained cuts and bruising.
See also * List of assassinated American politicians* List of United States federal judges killed in office* List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots* Threatening government officials of the United States* United States Congress members who died in office
References
Further reading * * * R. Eric Petersen; Jennifer E. Manning (17 August 2017). ''Violence Against Members of Congress and Their Staff: Selected Examples and Congressional Responses.'' Congressional Research Service.