Locher served in various capacities as a prosecutor and public solicitor, as well as law professor in Cleveland, Ohio during the 1910s and 1920s. He was appointed to the U.S. Senate on April 4, 1928 upon the death of Senator Frank B. Willis. Locher served until December 14, 1928, having lost a bid for the nomination in a special election to fill the remainder of Willis's term.
His nephew, Ralph S. Locher, would serve as both the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1962–67, and as an Ohio Supreme Court Justice for two terms between 1977-89.