List of assassinated American politicians

Assassinations carried out against American politicians occurred as early as the 19th century, the earliest of which is believed to have been carried out against David Ramsay in 1815. Since then, several American politicians have been assassinated while being elected or appointed to office, or were candidates for public office. Out of these, four were president of the United States, the earliest of which being Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and the most recent being John F. Kennedy in 1963. There are 61 assassinated American politicians listed. The most common method of homicide was with one or more gunshots.

Federal offices

Presidents of the United States

Politician	Portrait	Party	Year	Location	Assassin	Motive	Ref
Abraham Lincoln		Republican	April 14, 1865 (incident) April 15, 1865 (death)	Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C.	John Wilkes Booth	Lincoln's defeat of the Confederate States of America
	Main article: Assassination of Abraham Lincoln Lincoln was attending a play at Ford's Theatre five days after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in the American Civil War. Booth, a well-known actor and a Confederate sympathizer, was allowed into the president's box where he waited at the back until the audience laughed, hoping it would mask the sound of his gun. He shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a pistol. He then drew a knife and slashed at Major Henry Rathbone. Booth leapt from the box onto the stage where he broke his leg, shouted "sic semper tyrannis", and then fled to his horse. An unsuccessful attack on Secretary of State William H. Seward took place simultaneously. Lincoln was taken to a boarding house across the street where he died nine hours later. Booth was found by soldiers on April 27. Wielding a gun and refusing to surrender, Booth was shot and killed by Sergeant Boston Corbett. Eight co-conspirators were tried for Lincoln's assassination and found guilty by a military commission.
James A. Garfield		Republican	July 2, 1881 (incident) September 19, 1881 (death)	Washington, D.C.	Charles J. Guiteau	Assailant was refused a patronage appointment
	Main article: Assassination of James A. Garfield Garfield arrived at a railroad station on a visit to his ill wife Lucretia Garfield. Guiteau approached Garfield from behind and shot him three times with a pistol. Several doctors arrived to treat the wound, but their actions worsened and contaminated it. Garfield was brought to the White House to receive further treatment, remaining in critical condition and developing sepsis over the following weeks as doctors kept exacerbating the wound. He was brought to Elberon, New Jersey, in September to escape Washington's warm climate. He died from his wound days later. Guiteau was hanged on June 30, 1882.
William McKinley		Republican	September 6, 1901 (incident) September 14, 1901 (death)	Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York	Leon Czolgosz	Anarchism
	Main article: Assassination of William McKinley McKinley was shaking hands with visitors at the Pan-American Exposition when he was approached by Czolgosz. Czolgosz's hand was bandaged, under which he concealed a revolver. He shot McKinley twice before he was apprehended by guards and members of the crowd. McKinley was brought into surgery at the exposition's medical facility and partially recovered while staying at the home of John G. Milburn. His condition then declined and he developed gangrene. McKinley died eight days after he was shot. Czolgosz confessed to the killing and said that it was his "duty". He was executed by electric chair on October 29, 1901.
John F. Kennedy		Democratic	November 22, 1963	Dallas, Texas	Lee Harvey Oswald	Unknown
	Main article: Assassination of John F. Kennedy Kennedy was riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, when Oswald set up a sniper's nest on the sixth floor of a warehouse. Kennedy was in an open convertable, and Oswald fired at Kennedy three times with a rifle. The third shot struck Kennedy's skull, releasing brain matter from his head. He was taken to a hospital with minimal signs of life and died half an hour later. Oswald fled from the scene and killed Officer J. D. Tippit with a revolver when he was approached as a potential suspect. Police apprehended Oswald two hours after the assassination. As Oswald was being escorted through the police department two days later, businessman Jack Ruby approached Oswald and shot him on live television. Oswald died two hours later. Kennedy's assassination was one of the most defining events of the 20th century in the United States, and numerous conspiracy theories and conflicting eyewitness accounts have presented alternate explanations of how and why Kennedy was killed.

Members of the United States Congress

Politician	Portrait	Party	Date	Office	Location	Assassin	Motive	Ref
James M. Hinds		Republican	October 22, 1868	U.S. Representative from from Arkansas's 2nd district	Monroe County, Arkansas	George W. Clark	Hinds' support for Reconstruction policies
	Hinds was shot alongside Reverend James Brooks while they were campaigning for Ulysses S. Grant in the heavily-Democratic Monroe County. Clark caught up to the men on horseback shortly after giving them directions, shooting both men with a shotgun before fleeing. Brooks rode to town for help with minor injuries while Hinds laid mortally wounded. Hinds was taken to a doctor but died shortly after. Clark was never caught.
Thomas C. Hindman		Democratic	27 September, 1868 (incident) 28 September, 1868 (death)	Former U.S. Representative from Arkansas's 1st district	Helena, Arkansas	Unknown assailants	Disputed motive
	Hindman was in his sitting room with his family when a man shot him with a musket through the open window. The Republican Party was accused of assassinating him, but its members suggested non-political motives for the killing.
Thomas Haughey		Republican	July 31, 1869 (incident) August 5, 1869 (death)	Former U.S. representative from Alabama's 6th district	Courtland, Alabama	Collins (first name unknown)	Assassin supported Haughey's opponent
	Haughey was campaigning for reelection at a courthouse. He got in an argument and then a fistfight with Collins, a supporter of his opponent, who then shot Haughey with a revolver. Haughey died five days later. Collins was broken out of jail and never found.
Edward Dexter Holbrook		Democratic	June 18, 1870 (incident) June 19, 1870 (death)	Former Congressional delegate from the Idaho Territory's at-large district	Idaho City, Idaho	Charles Douglass	Argument
	After Holbrook called Douglass—a fellow Democrat—"a liar, a coward, and an assassin", Douglass confronted Holbrook in front of the latter's law office. They spoke before drawing revolvers and shot at one another. Holbrook died from his injuries the next day. Douglass was acquitted for manslaughter.
John M. Clayton		Republican	January 29, 1889	U.S. Representative-elect from from Arkansas's 2nd district	Plumerville, Arkansas	Unknown assailant	Unknown motive
	Clayton was staying at a boarding house in Plumerville investigating election fraud that caused him to lose his House race. Buckshot was fired through the window of his room, killing him. The assassin was never found. Clayton was later determined to be the winner of the election.
José Francisco Chaves		Republican	November 26, 1904	Former Congressional delegate from the New Mexico Territory's at-large district	Pinos Wells, New Mexico	Unknown assailant	Unknown motive
	Chaves was dining at a friend's home when a man shot at him through a window.
John M. Pinckney		Democratic	April 24, 1905	U.S. representative from Texas's 8th district	Hempstead, Texas	J. N. Brown	Pinckney's support for Prohibitionism
	Pinckney was speaking during a Prohibition League event when a protestor, J. N. Brown, fired his pistol at the prohibitionists. A 30-second gunfight broke out between the groups. Pinckney died trying to stop the fight and his brother died trying to pull him back. Brown and Prohibition League leader John Mills were also killed. Brown's son was also shooting, and he was charged as an accomplice but acquitted.
Huey Long		Democratic	September 9, 1935 (incident) September 10, 1935 (death)	U.S. Senator from Louisiana; Former Governor of Louisiana	Louisiana State Capitol, Baton Rouge, Louisiana	Carl Weiss	Disputed motive
	Main article: Assassination of Huey Long Long was an influential but polarizing figure in American politics, and previous assassination attempts caused him to hire bodyguards. While at the Louisiana State Capitol to give his thoughts on state legislation, Weiss approached him and shot him with a revolver. Bodyguards tackled Weiss and then returned fire, killing him. Long went under surgery and died of internal bleeding early the next morning. Many details of the killing are unknown, so various theories and alternate sequences of events have been proposed, including some that say Weiss was not the killer.
Robert F. Kennedy		Democratic	June 5, 1968 (incident) June 6, 1968 (death)	U.S. Senator from New York; Presidential candidate; Former attorney general	Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, California	Sirhan Sirhan	Opposition to Kennedy's support for Israel
	Main article: Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Kennedy was staying at the Ambassador Hotel while campaigning for president. While cutting through the kitchen to reach his room after a speech, Sirhan Sirhan fired eight shots from a pistol, hitting Kennedy in the head. Kennedy was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital where he died 26 hours later. Congress passed a law granting Secret Service protection to major presidential contenders. Sirhan was sentenced to death, but this was commuted to life in prison after California abolished capital punishment.
Leo Ryan		Democratic	November 18, 1978	U.S. representative from California's 11th district	An airport tarmac in Port Kaituma, Guyana	Members of the People's Temple	Ryan's investigation of Jonestown
	Ryan went to Guyana to investigate allegations of abuse in the Jonestown settlement of the Peoples Temple movement, and he examined the facility. He learned that several members wanted to leave and brought them to the airport as he left. Members of the Peoples Temple ambushed his delegation before he boarded, killing Ryan and four others. Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones had all of his followers commit mass suicide the same day. The ambush's leader Larry Layton was acquitted in Guyana but extradited and found guilty in the U.S.
Allard K. Lowenstein		Democratic	March 14, 1980	U.S. representative from New York's 5th district (former)	New York City, New York	Dennis Sweeney	Schizophrenia-induced belief that Lowenstein was the leader of an international Jewish conspiracy
	Sweeney was a student and political ally of Lowenstein. Believing that Lowenstein led a conspiracy targeting him, Sweeney entered Lowenstein's office and shot him with a pistol. Sweeney then waited in the office for the police to arrest him. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Federal judges

Politician	Portrait	Party	Date	Office	Location	Assassin	Motive	Ref
John H. Wood, Jr.			May 29, 1979	Judge of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas	San Antonio, Texas	Charles Harrelson	Contract killing ordered by Jamiel Chagra as he was set to be tried by Wood
	As a judge, Wood had a reputation for giving severe sentences in drug-related cases. Drug trafficker Jamiel Chagra was set to be tried by Wood, so he hired contract killer Charles Harrelson to kill the judge. On his way to the court, Wood was shot by Harrelson in the back with a rifle, killing him instantly. The Federal Bureau of Investigation launched a sprawling investigation, and it identified Harrelson as a suspect a few years later. Harrelson and other co-conspirators were indicted in 1982 and found guilty.
Richard J. Daronco			May 21, 1988	Judge of the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York	Pelham, New York	Charles Koster	Assailant was the father of a plaintiff whose harassment suit was dismissed by Daronco
	Daronco presided over a discrimination and sexual harassment case in 1988, in which Carolee Koster was suing Chase Bank and her boss Allan Ross after she was fired. Carolee and her father Charles dedicated years of their lives and most of their savings to the case. Charles had to be removed from the courtroom during the case because of his emotional investment in the case, and Daronco ruled against Carolee on May 19. Two days later, Daronco was gardening in his yard when Charles arrived and shot him. Daronco made it into his home before dying from his wounds. Charles followed him in and then shot himself. Carolee later said she regretted not settling out of court.
Robert Smith Vance		Democratic	December 16, 1989	Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit	Mountain Brook, Alabama	Walter Moody	Killed after the court refused to expunge a previous conviction for explosives possession from the assailant's record
	Vance was targeted by Moody because he was a member of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Moody had been convicted of possessing an explosive in 1972 and blamed the court for his failure to get the conviction overturned. Moody mailed a pipe bomb to Vance on December 14. Vance received it two days later and opened the package at his kitchen table. It exploded, killing him instantly and seriously injuring his wife. Moody was indicted after the FBI determined the bomb was identical to Moody's previous explosive, and he was sentenced to life in prison for the killing.

Diplomats

Politician	Portrait	Party	Date	Office	Location	Assassin	Motive	Ref
John Patterson			March 22, 1974 (disappearance)	United States Vice Consul	Hermosillo, Mexico	Bobby Joe Keesee	Ransom
	Patterson was posted in Hermosillo by the U.S. Foreign Service. He was accompanied by Keesee, who had befriended him, on route to a meeting. Keesee then kidnapped Patterson for ransom. At some point, a struggle occurred as Keesee beat Patterson to death. The consul general received a note saying that Patterson had been taken hostage by the non-existent People's Liberation Army of Mexico and that they demanded $500,000 ransom. Patterson's mother took out a loan and his wife attempted to deliver it twice, but the kidnapper never arrived. The FBI suspected that it was a self-kidnapping by the Pattersons to keep the ransom money for themselves, but Keesee became a suspect after they discovered his name in the hotel registry. Keesee was arrested on May 28. He said he wrote the letter to give Patterson's wife hope but was otherwise uninvolved. Patterson's body was discovered on July 8. Keesee was sentenced to 20 years in prison and paroled in 1986, but he committed another murder in 1998 and was sentenced to life in prison.
J. Christopher Stevens		Democratic	September 11, 2012	Ambassador to Libya	Benghazi, Libya	Disputed	Unknown motive
	Approximately 80 militants attacked an American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012. The building was struck with explosives and lit on fire, and Stevens was found dead after the attack ended. Three other Americans at the facility were also killed.

State offices

Governors

Politician	Portrait	Party	Date	Office	Location	Assassin	Motive	Ref
Charles Bent		Independent	January 19, 1847	Governor of the New Mexico Territory	Taos, New Mexico	Tomás Romero; Pablo Montoya	Part of the Taos Revolt; opposition to American presence in New Mexico
	Bent was appointed governor of the New Mexico Territory, which was part of Mexico until it was occupied by the United States. Several Hispanic and Native American residents of Taos and the nearby settlement Taos Pueblo attacked Bent in his home. He refused to act in his own defense, believing the assailants to be his friends. They shot him with arrows in the face and stomach, slashed his hands and wrists, shot him with firearms after he tried to escape outside, and scalped him. This was followed by a series of attacks over the following weeks, the Taos Revolt. Some of the assailants were hanged for the killings. Bent was succeeded by Donaciano Vigil.
Edwin Stanton McCook		Republican	September 11, 1873	Acting governor of the Dakota Territory	Yankton, Dakota Territory	Peter Wintermute	Argument
	McCook was the Secretary of the Dakota Territory and served as acting governor. In March 1873, he got into an argument with banker Peter Wintermute about the reappointment of Governor John A. Burbank. The men then encountered each other in September during a meeting about the Dakota Southern Railroad where they argued again. Wintermute insulted McCook and suggested shooting him, so McCook beat Wintermute. Wintermute left and returned to the meeting three times. McCook was present the third time, and Wintermute shot him in the chest with a pistol. He beat Wintermute again while bleeding out. McCook was then taken to his hotel where he died the next morning. Eyewitness accounts varied significantly, causing enough doubt that Wintermute was acquitted.
William Goebel		Democratic	January 30, 1900 (incident) February 3, 1900 (death)	Governor of Kentucky	Frankfort, Kentucky	Unknown assailant	Unknown motive
	Goebel lost the 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election but challenged it as fraudulent. He arrived at the Old State Capitol on January 30, 1900, to hear a committee's findings on election fraud. As Goebel approached the building, he was shot in the chest with a rifle. Goebel was brought back to his hotel. The committee determined that the election had been fraudulent and declared him the winner, which Democratic legislators voted to affirm on January 31. He was sworn in as governor on his deathbed the same night. Goebel died on February 3, and party leaders negotiated an agreement on February 6 in which Goebel was recognized as the winner and his running mate Lieutenant Governor J. C. W. Beckham succeeded him. The assassin was never identified.
Frank Steunenberg		Democratic	December 30, 1905	Former Governor of Idaho	Caldwell, Idaho	Albert Horsley	Opposition to Steunenberg's labor policy
	Steunenberg was killed by a bomb planted on his front gate by miner Albert Horsley on December 30, 1905. Steunenberg had been elected governor of Idaho in 1896 but became unpopular with the mining union and chose not to run for reelection in 1900. The bomb exploded when Steunenberg opened the gate, and he died shortly after. Horsley was arrested, having already been involved with a previous bombing. He confessed and implicated three leaders of the Western Federation of Miners. They were arrested but not convicted of any charges.

State legislators

Politician	Portrait	Party	Year	Office	Location	Assassin	Suspected motive	Ref
David Ramsay			May 6, 1815 (incident) May 8, 1815 (death)	Former president of the South Carolina Senate	Charleston, South Carolina	William Linnen	Assailant retaliated after Ramsay deemed him insane
	Ramsay had been asked to evaluate Linnen's mental state and determined him insane, sending him to prison. Linnen was eventually released and made threats against Ramsay, who did not take them seriously. On May 6, 1815, Linnen walked past Ramsay holding a handkerchief. He then turned around, drew a pistol from beneath it, and shot Ramsay three times in the back. Ramsay was brought to his home where he insisted that Linnen was not in control of his actions and should not be considered guilty. He died two days later.
Charles C. P. Arndt		Whig	February 11, 1842	Member of the Council of the Wisconsin Territory	Madison, Wisconsin	James Russell Vineyard	Argument
	Arndt was in the Wisconsin Territory council chamber when he engaged in a fight with Vineyard, a fellow councilman. The two were friends despite being political opponents, but they fell into a heated argument over the nomination of a Grant County sheriff. Vineyard called Arndt a liar and it appeared they were going to fight, so the presiding officer ordered that they separate. Vineyard confronted Arndt again when the meeting adjourned, and Arndt struck Vineyard. Vineyard responded by drawing a pistol and shooting Arndt in the chest. Arndt died within minutes. Vineyard was arrested and resigned from his seat, but the council rejected his resignation so it could expel him. He was acquitted of manslaughter, prompting outrage from his opponents and accusations of corruption.
James Strang		Democratic	June 16, 1856 (incident) July 9, 1856 (death)	Member of the Michigan House of Representatives	Beaver Island, Michigan	Hezekiah McCulloch, Thomas Bedford, and Alexander Wentworth	Opposition to Strang's religious leadership
	Strang was the leader of his own sect of Mormonism, proclaiming himself its king. Three men who opposed Strang, each for their own reasons, formed a plot to kill him. They were led by McCulloch, a former friend of Strang's. They allied with Captain Charles H. McBlair of the USS Michigan, who docked at Beaver Island and summoned Strang to board the ship. When Strang prepared to board, Bedford and Wentworth emerged from behind stacks of cordwood and shot Strang twice in the back of the head. After he fell to the ground, they shot him once in the back and struck him in the face with their guns. They fled to Mackinac County aboard the USS Michigan with McCulloch and their respective families. Here their actions were celebrated. They were taken to jail, but the doors were left unlocked so they could leave and no further investigation occurred. Strang died from his wounds weeks later, and the Mormon community of Beaver Island was forcibly displaced.
John W. Stephens		Republican	May 21, 1870	Member of the North Carolina Senate	Yanceyville, North Carolina	Caswell County chapter of the Ku Klux Klan	Attacks on Republicans
	Stephens sat in on a Conservative meeting where he was received with hostility over his support for Reconstruction. He was allowed to sit, but he was accused of being a spy for the Republicans. Former county sheriff Frank Wiley spoke to Stephens, and the two went into the courthouse's basement where he was ambushed and killed by the Ku Klux Klan. A search party was formed that evening when he did not return home, and his body was found by his brother the following morning. In response to Stephens' killing and other Ku Klux Klan activities, Governor William Woods Holden declared martial law to combat the group, triggering the Kirk–Holden war. John Lea, the leader of Caswell County's Ku Klux Klan chapter at the time, confessed to orchestrating Stephens' assassination in 1919.
Elisha G. Johnson		Republican	1875	Member of the Florida Senate	Lake City, Florida	Unknown	Unknown
	Johnson was a member of the Florida Senate at a time when it was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. While closing his store at night, he was shot and killed with a shotgun. This gave Democrats a majority in the legislature, but they denied involvement. It was one of many attacks against Republicans in Florida during this period.
Charles Caldwell		Republican	December 30, 1875	Member of the Mississippi State Senate	Clinton, Mississippi	Several assailants	Racism
	Caldwell was killed by white vigilantes as one of many attacks on black Mississippians. Some time after his house was vandalized and his neighbors were killed, a friend lured him into an ambush where he was shot by a mob.
Louis Cardis		Republican	October 10, 1877	Member of the Texas House of Representatives	El Paso, Texas	Charles Howard	Argument during the San Elizario Salt War
	Cardis was one of several politicians in El Paso who tried to seize control of the Guadalupe Peak salt deposits from local Mexican–Americans. He became enemies with his former friend Howard, a district judge, and they had physical altercations on two separate occasions. Howard tried to claim the deposits for himself, and a mob captured him when he arrested two Mexican–American men for trying to access the deposits. He was released on the condition of leaving, but he returned to El Paso to kill Cardis, shooting him twice with a shotgun. Howard fled, but he returned in December to reassert his claim over the deposits and was shot by a Mexican firing squad.
W. H. H. Tison		Democratic	December 4, 1882	Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives	Baldwyn, Mississippi	J. Edward Sanders	Retaliation for an attack
	Tison was walking in front of Sanders' store when Sanders stood at the door and shot Tison with a shotgun. Tison died instantly. Tison and his brothers had beaten Sanders the previous week following a feud between Sanders and the Tison family. Sanders was arrested shortly after the assassination.
Samuel Newitt Wood		Republican	June 23, 1891	Member of the Kansas Senate	Hugoton, Kansas	James Brennan	Unknown
	Wood's friend-turned-enemy Judge Theodosius Botkin appointed Wood's enemy William O'Connor as county attorney, allowing him to persecute Wood. Wood went to Hugoton for a court appearance on one of O'Connor's charges against him despite fears that his political opponents there may harm him. Wood went into the courtroom to check the docket, and as he came out Brennan shot him with a pistol from behind. Wood ran, but Brennan pursued before shooting him again in the back and then in the head. He died fifteen or twenty minutes later. Sheriff Cann was at the court and tried to arrest Brennan, but after a standoff Cann said he would submit to Sheriff Weir of Morton County. Botkin and O'Connor were accused by the Democratic Party and other opposition parties of orchestrating the assassination. Brennan was released when an impartial jury could not be formed, and he fled the state in fear of retaliation from Wood's allies. A new attempt to prosecute him failed when a court in Oklahoma refused to extradite him to Kansas.
Leon Jordan		Democratic	July 15, 1970	Member of the Missouri House of Representatives	Kansas City, Missouri	Unknown	Unknown
	Jordan was shot three times with a shotgun by multiple assailants while he was leaving his tavern. The Mafia is alleged to have been involved.
Tommy Burks		Democratic	October 19, 1998	Member of the Tennessee Senate	Monterey, Tennessee	Byron Looper	Election
	Burks was assassinated by his opponent, Byron Looper, in his reelection campaign for the Tennessee Senate. Burks was driving his truck when he was shot. Looper was convicted for the killing. Burks' widow Charlotte Burks took his place as a candidate and was elected to succeed him in the Tennessee Senate.
Clementa C. Pinckney		Democratic	June 17, 2015	Member of the South Carolina Senate	Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina	Dylann Roof	White supremacy
	Main article: Charleston church shooting Pinckney was part of a bible study group at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church where he was reverend when Roof entered and asked to join. He participated for nearly an hour before he drew a gun and began shooting people in the church. Pinckney and eight others were killed. Roof was captured in North Carolina the following morning.

State judges

Politician	Portrait	Party	Date	Office	Location	Assassin	Motive	Ref
John P. Slough		Democratic	December 15, 1867 (incident) December 17, 1867 (death)	Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court; Former member of the Ohio House of Representatives	Santa Fe, New Mexico	William Logan Rynerson	Argument
	Slough was responsible for swearing in members of the New Mexico legislature until the power was removed from him, and he struck the official he felt was responsible. He walked out of the resulting hearing, so Representative Rynerson introduced a joint resolution to remove Slough as chief justice. Slough referred to Rynerson as "a liar, a coward and a thief", so Rynerson confronted him. Slough refused to retract his statement, even after Rynerson drew a revolver. Slough reached for his own pistol, so Rynerson shot him in the hip, and Slough died the following morning. Rynerson was acquitted of the murder.
John Milton Elliott		Democratic	March 26, 1879	Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals	Frankfort, Kentucky	Thomas Buford	Retaliation for a court ruling
	Elliott was in front of the Capitol Hotel with Judge Thomas M. Hines when he was shot by Buford with a shotgun. Buford had invited the men to go hunting and then for a drink, but they declined. Elliott was killed instantly, and Buford turned himself in to the deputy sheriff who approached them. After his arrest, Buford explained that he had killed Elliott in retaliation for a ruling the court made against his family. Buford was sent to an asylum but escaped and fled to Indiana.

Miscellaneous offices

Politician	Portrait	Party	Year	Office	Location	Method	Assassin	Suspected motive	Ref
Solomon P. Sharp		Democratic-Republican	1825 (details)	Kentucky Attorney General, State Senator-elect	Home in Frankfort, Kentucky	Stabbed (at home)	Jereboam O. Beauchamp	Killed over a long-standing dispute based on political differences, and on Sharp fathering a child with the woman whom Beauchamp later married
George LeBreton			1844 (details)	Recorder of the Provisional Government of Oregon	Oregon City, Oregon (in his office)	Gunshots	Cockstock	Killed by a native as part of Native American resistance to white settlement in the area
Albert Patterson		Democratic	1954	Attorney General-elect; Member of the Alabama Senate	Phenix City, Alabama (walking to his vehicle)	Gunshots	Unknown	Patterson was elected on a promise to crack down on organized crime in the state, which was rooted in Phenix City.
George Lincoln Rockwell		American Nazi	1967	Candidate for Governor of Virginia	Arlington, Virginia	Gunshots	John Patler	Assailant was angered by Rockwell expelling him from the American Nazi Party

Local offices

Mayors

Politician	Portrait	Party	Year	Office	Location	Method	Assassin	Suspected motive	Ref
Joseph Smith		Reform	1844 (details)	Mayor of Nauvoo, Illinois; presidential candidate	Carthage, Illinois (while in jail)	Gunshots	The Carthage Greys	Targeted by an anti-Mormon mob for his growing political power
Carter Harrison III		Democratic	1893	Mayor of Chicago	Chicago, Illinois (at home)	Gunshot	Patrick Eugene Prendergast	Assailant was rejected for appointment to a patronage post as corporation counsel
Hale Johnson		Prohibition	1902	Mayor of Newton, Illinois; presidential candidate	Bogota, Illinois	Gunshot	Harry Harris	Killed while attempting to collect a debt owed to him by Harris
Anton Cermak		Democratic	1933	Mayor of Chicago	Miami, Florida (in motorcade)	Gunshot to lung	Giuseppe Zangara	Disputed; suspected of striking Cermak instead of the intended target Franklin D. Roosevelt
Louis F. Edwards		Democratic	1939	Mayor of Long Beach, New York	Long Beach, New York (outside his home)	Gunshot	Alvin Dooley	Edwards' political influence thwarted Dooley's re-election to post in a police union.
George Moscone		Democratic	1978 (details)	Mayor of San Francisco	San Francisco, California (in his City Hall office)	Gunshots	Dan White, outgoing San Francisco City Supervisor	Assailant had recently resigned from office due to financial setbacks; he changed his mind and sought reappointment; Mayor Moscone denied this request upon the advice of Councilman Milk.
Russell G. Lloyd, Sr.		Republican	1980	Mayor of Evansville, Indiana (former)	Evansville, Indiana	Gunshot	Julia van Orden	Assailant was mentally ill and believed she was being harassed by the city; she believed Lloyd was the incumbent mayor.
Mike Swoboda			2008 (details)	Mayor of Kirkwood, Missouri	Kirkwood, Missouri (during a city council meeting)	Gunshot (died seven months later)	Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton	Assailant retaliated for fines levied by the municipality for code violations

City council members

Politician	Portrait	Party	Year	Office	Location	Method	Assassin	Suspected motive	Ref
Harvey Milk		Democratic	1978 (details)	City Supervisor (Councilman) of San Francisco	San Francisco, California (in his City Hall office)	Gunshots	Dan White, outgoing San Francisco City Supervisor	Assailant had recently resigned from office due to financial setbacks; he changed his mind and sought reappointment; Mayor Moscone denied this request upon the advice of Councilman Milk.
James E. Davis		Democratic	2003	New York City Councilman	New York City (at City Hall)	Gunshots	Othniel Askew	Killed by a prospective challenger for the 2003 Council special election

District attorneys

Politician	Portrait	Party	Year	Office	Location	Method	Assassin	Suspected motive	Ref
Mike McLelland		Republican	2013	District Attorney for Kaufman County, Texas	Forney, Texas (at home)	Gunshot	Eric Williams	Killed by a former justice of the peace who was convicted of burglary while in office

See also

• List of United States Congress members killed or wounded in office
• List of United States federal judges killed in office
• List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots

References

Bibliography

• Lentz, Harris M. (2002). Assassinations and Executions: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence, 1900 Through 2000. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0-7864-1388-1.
• Marion, Nancy E.; Oliver, Willard M. (2010). Killing the President: Assassinations, Attempts, and Rumored Attempts on U.S. Commanders-in-Chief. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-313-36475-4.
• Marion, Nancy E.; Oliver, Willard M. (2014). Killing Congress: Assassinations, Attempted Assassinations and Other Violence Against Members of Congress. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739183601.