In 1910, he ran for Lieutenant Governor on the ticket with Henry Lewis Stimson, but was defeated. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1915 to 1918, elected on the Republican ticket in 1914 and 1916 with Governor Charles S. Whitman, but both were defeated for re-election in 1918.
He was a delegate to the New York State Convention to ratify the 21st Amendment in 1933.