[3] A Democrat, as were most whites in the South through the mid-twentieth century, McLaurin was elected by the state legislature to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1894 to 1895.

At Hazlehurst in 1898, McLaurin explained in a speech that one of the causes of the depleted state treasury was inadequate taxation of the railroad corporations.

[4] In October 1898, McLaurin traveled by train to Forest, Mississippi, after white rioting in nearby Harperville.

[6] The sheriff took several black men under armed guard to Meridian, Mississippi, to protect them from the white mobs in Forest.

[6] McLaurin returned to the U.S. Senate in 1901 after being elected by the state legislature to that seat in 1900; he was re-elected on January 19, 1904.