He served as assistant prosecuting attorney of Genesee County 1913–1917, member of the Flint School Board 1924–1934, member of the Republican State central committee 1925–1930, and instructor in the General Motors Company technical night school for sixteen years. He was a delegate to the 1932 Republican National Convention.
A report created for President Harry S. Truman in September 1948 claimed that Blackney had a "reactionary record in Congress".[1]
He was not a candidate for re-election in 1952 and retired to Flint, where he resided until his death, aged 86. He is interred in Woodlawn Cemetery in his birthplace of Clio, Michigan.