He was elected a member of the Maine House of Representatives, was elected Mayor of Lewiston, and was a delegate at large from Maine to the Democratic National Conventions in 1892, 1904, 1912, and 1920. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1906 to the Sixtieth Congress and in 1908 to the Sixty-first Congress. He was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-second, Sixty-third, and Sixty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1917).