 Following the loss, he took a job at a grocery store in Ashland, Kentucky that would allow him to travel the state more freely, make acquaintances, and better position himself for a run for higher office.Campaigning under the moniker "Honest Bill from Olive Hill", Fields won a narrow victory as a Democrat to represent Kentucky's Ninth District in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1910.The first Democrat to hold the seat in twenty years, he was re-elected for another six consecutive terms.