Wilson was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1880. He was elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives shortly afterwards and won reelection five times afterwards, serving from 1883 to 1895. He served as chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means from 1893 to 1895 during which he co-authored the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act which slightly reduced the United States tariff rates from the numbers set by the McKinley Tariff of 1890.