 A member of the Committee on Military Affairs, he eventually became the ranking Democrat on the committee and the ranking member of the subcommittee that controlled appropriations for U.S. operations during World War I.In September 1923, Democratic gubernatorial nominee J. Campbell Cantrill died, leaving the party without a candidate.Alben Barkley, who Cantrill had defeated for the nomination, refused to be the Democratic candidate, perhaps because he had already decided to run for the U.S. Senate in 1926.