In 1900 he became judge of the Ninth Judicial District Court of Nebraska and served until 1907 when he was elected as a Republican to the Sixtieth Congress (March 4, 1907 – March 3, 1909) representing the third district. He lost to James P. Latta in the 1908 election, and resumed his practice of law in Neligh. He retired and moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1929. He died there on May 28, 1945, and is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, in Glendale, California.