Knapp accepted and he eventually moved from editor of the Middlesex Standard to editor of the Lowell Citizen and News. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Liberty Party candidate in 1846 and as a member of the Free Soil Party in 1848.
Knapp took on the position and subsequently moved from his role as editor of the Middlesex Standard to that of editor of the Lowell Citizen and News. He attempted to secure a seat in Congress, first without success as a Liberty Party candidate in 1846 and then again without success as a member of the Free Soil Party in 1848.