George May Keim (uncle of William High Keim), was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He attended Princeton College, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1826 and commenced practice in Reading. He was a major general of militia. He was a delegate to the State constitutional convention of 1837 and 1838.

Keim was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Henry A. P. Muhlenberg. He was reelected to the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses. He was the chairman of the United States House Committee on Militia during the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Congresses. He was appointed by President John Tyler as United States marshal for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on December 18, 1843. He was reappointed by President James K. Polk on January 3, 1848, and served until 1850. He was mayor of Reading in 1852, and was a presidential elector on the Democratic ticket of Stephen A. Douglas and Herschel V. Johnson in 1860. He died in Reading in 1861. Interment Reading's Charles Evans Cemetery.

• United States Congress. "George M. Keim (id: K000050)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• The Political Graveyard