Before his election to the
Michigan House of Representatives in 2008, Daley spent 24 years in Arcadia Township
local office, as township trustee (1985–1989) and treasurer and supervisor (1995–2008). In the state House, Daley was chairman of the House Agriculture Committee. In 2014, he voted in favor of authorizing a
wolf hunt in the
Upper Peninsula. In 2014, he announced his run for state Senate in the
31st district seat, challenging first-term incumbent
Mike Green in the Republican
primary election. Daley ran for the Senate seat again in 2018 and won, defeating state Representative
Gary Glenn in the August 2018 Republican primary, 58–41%. Daley was supported in the primary campaign by
CMS Energy,
Consumers Energy, and
DTE Energy, which spent heavily to defeat Glenn, who later blamed the utility companies for contributing to his loss. Daley went on to defeat
Bay County Clerk Cynthia Luczak in the November 2018 general election. The district covered Bay,
Tuscola, and
Lapeer counties. In January 2021, Daley was one of 10 Michigan Senate Republicans who signed a letter to Congress in support of President
Donald Trump's
attempt to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election and remain in power. In 2024, Daley endorsed
Trump's campaign for president. In February 2022, Daley was one of several Senate Republicans to sponsor a symbolic,
non-binding resolution that claimed that "radical politics" were infiltrating Michigan public schools, "resulting in education that amounts to political indoctrination" of students. In November 2023, Daley joined the Senate Republican leadership team for the
102nd Michigan Legislature, as minority caucus chair. In April 2023, Daley voted against a bill to amend an antiquated Michigan law that made it a misdemeanor for an unmarried man and woman to cohabitate or to "lewdly and lasciviously" associate. The bill passed 23–9. Also in April 2023, Daley spoke against legislation to allow university graduate student
research assistants at public colleges and universities in Michigan to unionize and
collectively bargain; the bill passed the Senate on a 20-17 vote along party lines. Daley is a member of the Michigan Workforce Development Board; in 2024, Governor
Gretchen Whitmer appointed him to a second term, expiring January 1, 2027. ==Personal life==