Rayner, Kenneth, 1808-1884

Kenneth Rayner was a lawyer, North Carolina state legislator, member of the Alabama Claims Commission, solicitor of the United States Treasury, and United States Representative from North Carolina.

Representative from N.C., solicitor U.S. treasury.

Kenneth Rayner (1808-1884) was a lawyer and a member of the Whig Party, serving as a North Carolina state legislator, United States Representative from North Carolina, and member of the North Carolina convention of 1861. In 1848, Rayner ran against Millard Fillmore for the vice-presidential nomination to Zachary Taylor. Submitting to a caucus of Whig party leaders, Rayner lost to Fillmore by one vote. Had he won, he would have become president of the United States when Taylor died after a year in office. After the Civil War he became a Republican and moved to Tennessee, then to Mississippi, and finally to Washington, D.C., serving as a member of the Alabama Claims Commission and solicitor of the United States Treasury.

U.S. representative, public official, and jurist from North Carolina.