 He was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1799 to 1801 and 1806, and served in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1810.During the War of 1812, Wayne was captain of a troop of Pennsylvania Horse Cavalry, raised and equipped by himself, and was subsequently colonel of the Second Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry.Wayne unsuccessfully ran as a Federalist candidate for Governor in 1814, but was elected to the Eighteenth Congress.