After the war, he was elected to Congress from what was then the 2nd District. He was re-elected 21 more times from this Jacksonville-based district, which was renumbered as the 3rd District in 1967. He rarely faced serious opposition, even as Jacksonville fell under increasing Republican influence. For instance, in 1972 he won 82 percent of the vote against a nominal Republican challenger (one of only six times the Republicans even put up a challenger against him) even as Richard Nixon carried the district by over 70 percent of the vote.