Isidor Rayner (April 11, 1850November 25, 1912) was a Democratic member of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

, representing the

State of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

from 1905 to 1912. He also represented the Fourth Congressional District of Maryland from 1887 to 1889, and 1891 to 1895. Rayner was born into a

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

family in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland, and attended local private schools. He later attended the

University of Maryland, Baltimore The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1807, it is the second oldest college in Maryland and comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, me ...

, and the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. He began to study law and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1871. Rayner was elected to the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

and served from 1878 to 1884. In 1885, he was elected to the

Maryland State Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single ...

, serving one year until 1886. Rayner was elected the same year to the 50th

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1888 to the 51st Congress, but was victorious in the next two elections to the 52nd and 53rd Congresses. He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1894. Five years later in 1899, Rayner was chosen to be the

Attorney General of Maryland The Attorney General of the State of Maryland is the chief legal officer of the State of Maryland in the United States and is elected by the people every four years with no term limits. To run for the office a person must be a citizen of and qual ...

, serving until 1903. He was elected as a Democrat in 1905 to the U.S. Senate, and was reelected again in 1911. While senator, he served as chairman of the Committee on Indian Depredations (Sixty-second Congress). In 1912, Rayner died in Washington, D.C., while serving as senator. He is buried at

Rock Creek Cemetery Rock Creek Cemetery is an cemetery with a natural and rolling landscape located at Rock Creek Church Road, NW, and Webster Street, NW, off Hawaii Avenue, NE, in the Petworth (Washington, D.C.), Petworth neighborhood of Washington, D.C., across ...

References

External links

*
Isidor Rayner, late a senator from Maryland, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1914
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rayner, Isidor 1850 births 1912 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Democratic Party Maryland state senators Maryland attorneys general Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Politicians from Baltimore University of Maryland, Baltimore alumni Jewish United States senators Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery Democratic Party United States senators from Maryland Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland 20th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly

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