John Richard Barret (August 21, 1825 – November 2, 1903) was a slave owner[1] and U.S. Representative from Missouri.

Barret was elected to the State house of representatives in 1852 and served four terms.

He served from March 4, 1859, to June 8, 1860, when Congress declared him not entitled to the seat on the grounds that there had been election irregularities (such as judges who'd not taken the oath, ineligible voters, ballots for Blair that should have been counted but weren't and a difficult to explain increase in voters in a few precincts) and declared Blair entitled to it.

Blair successfully ran against him in the general election in 1860 for a seat in the 37th Congress.

Barret moved to New York City and engaged in numerous occupations, eventually dying there on November 2, 1903.