Phillips was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1956. He was a delegate to Republican National Conventions in 1944, 1948, 1952, 1956, and 1960. He was a member of the American Battle Monuments Commission from 1952 to 1961. He was engaged as a public relations counselor and was a resident of Hemet, California, until his death in Palm Springs, California, on December 18, 1983. Interment in Desert Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California.