Lewis was elected as a Republican to the Eightieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John Marshall Robsion and served from April 24, 1948, to January 3, 1949.
Lewis is the oldest person to win his first election to Congress, and was 79 years old at the time he assumed office. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1948 to the Eighty-first Congress.
He died in London, Kentucky, August 8, 1959.
He was interred in A.R. Dyche Memorial Park.