Dorothy Louise Slaughter (née McIntosh, August 14, 1929 – March 16, 2018) was an American politician elected to 16 terms as a United States representative from New York, serving from 1987 until her death in 2018.

[2] Slaughter was born Dorothy Louise McIntosh on August 14, 1929 in Lynch, Kentucky, a coal mining town built by a subsidiary of U.S. Steel.

She was the daughter of Daisy Grace (née Byers; 1903–1987)[3] and Oscar Lewis McIntosh (1901–1987),[4] a blacksmith for a coal mine.

Her sister Virginia died of pneumonia while she was a child; Slaughter later cited this as her reason for earning degrees in microbiology and public health.

[11] In 1982, local Democratic supporters approached Slaughter with a desire to see her run to represent the 130th District in the New York State Assembly against the Republican incumbent, Thomas A. Hanna.

[6] After becoming the first Democrat to represent the district since 1963, Slaughter ran against a young member of the Monroe Country Legislature, 33-year old John D. Bouchard.

Her opponent John D. Bouchard, received one of the highest vote totals tallied against Slaughter for the duration of her time in Washington.

At the same time, the neighboring 29th District of 30-year incumbent Republican Frank Horton, a close friend of Slaughter's, was dismantled, and his home was drawn into the new 28th.

Original plans called for LaFalce's district to be merged with that of Republican Jack Quinn, who represented the other side of Buffalo.

[16] She faced a vigorous challenge from Republican Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, but Slaughter won a 14th term with 57.4% of the vote, on November 6, 2012.

[17] In the 2014 election, Slaughter narrowly defeated her Republican opponent, Gates town supervisor Mark Assini, by 869 votes.

After an extended period of vote counting, Assini conceded defeat on November 12, 2014, more than a week after the election was held.

During her entire tenure, she was a "fierce advocate" for medical research, women's health, neurology and genetic rights.

[21] In 1993, as a member of the United States House Committee on the Budget Slaughter secured the first $500 million earmarked by Congress for breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health.

[22] Previously, all NIH-funded research was done on white males, even in trials related to predominantly female diseases such as breast cancer.

[23] Slaughter fought to include language establishing an Office of Research on Women's Health at NIH in the legislation.

[27] She cited her scientific training as the impetus for her dedicated interest on the topic, stating in an interview, "It wasn't that I was far-seeing then that they were going to use antibiotics in agriculture.

In March 2010, Slaughter proposed that a House rule be passed to expedite the passage of health care reform legislation.

Slaughter's efforts to secure funds for her district was recognized by the Rochester Institute of Technology when it named its Center for Integrated Manufacturing Studies facilities in her honor.

[37][38][39] After the shooting of Gabby Giffords, Slaughter suggested the Federal Communications Commission was "not working anymore" and called for better policing of incendiary language.

[54] To the day she died, Slaughter still spoke with a marked Kentucky accent, which took many by surprise when they learned she represented a Western New York district.

The funeral was attended by more than 2,000 people and featured speakers such as House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman John Lewis, former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and members of Slaughter's family.