In 1891, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, against Joseph Haynes.[4] Lehlbach petitioned for a recount, but was denied.[4]
Lehlbach was elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth, and Fifty-first Congresses, serving in office from March 4, 1885, to March 3, 1891, but was not a candidate for renomination in 1890.[2]
Later career and death
After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of his profession as a civil engineer in Newark, and was Sheriff of Essex County, New Jersey, from 1893 to 1896.[2][3]
He died in Newark, on January 11, 1904, due to kidney problems.[3][2] He was interred in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark.[2]