He was first elected to the South Dakota Senate in 1903, serving through 1911. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1900 and 1908. In 1913, he won election to the United States House of Representatives, remaining in that capacity through 1918, when he lost the Republican primary for renomination to a fourth term. On April 5, 1917, he was one of 50 representatives who voted against declaring war on Germany. He returned to Yankton, moving in 1922 to Vermillion, South Dakota, after being made an associate justice of the South Dakota Supreme Court, where he remained until 1926.
Later career and death
He went on to seek election to the United States Senate, and retired from active political life in 1926.
Death and burial
He died in Vermillion, South Dakota in 1929, aged 75. He is buried in the Yankton Cemetery.