John L. McLaurin (May 9, 1860 - July 29, 1934) was a United States Representative and Senator from South Carolina; born in Red Bluff, South Carolina, he attended schools at Bennettsville, South Carolina and Englewood, New Jersey as well as Bethel Military Academy (near Warrenton, Virginia) and Swarthmore College (in Pennsylvania.) He graduated from the Carolina Military Institute, studied law in the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, was admitted to the bar in 1883 and practiced in Bennettsville. He was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1890-1891 and was attorney general of the State from 1891 to 1897. McLaurin was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Eli T. Stackhouse; he was reelected to the Fifty-third, Fifty-fourth, and Fifty-fifth Congresses and served from December 5, 1892, until May 31, 1897, when he resigned. He was appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Joseph H. Earle and served from June 1, 1897, to March 3, 1903; he was not a candidate for reelection. He was censured by the Senate in 1902 for an assault in which he participated on the Senate floor.
McLaurin moved to New York City and resumed the practice of law; he returned to Bennettsville and engaged in agricultural pursuits, and was a member of the South Carolina Senate, 1914-1915. He was author of the State warehouse system for storing and financing cotton, and served as State warehouse commissioner from 1915 until his resignation in 1917. He died at his estate near Bennettsville in 1934; interment was in McCall Cemetery.
