During the 1884 presidential election he left the Republican Party to join the Prohibition Party and supported former Kansas Governor John St. John. The first Prohibition state convention in Nebraska was held in 1884 and he was selected to serve as its chairman. In 1892, he was given the Prohibition nomination for governor and the nomination for Senate in 1894. In 1890, he selected as chairman of the Nebraska state Prohibition Committee and served again from 1895 to 1896, and was later elected as a member of the National Prohibition Committee in 1892.
