In July 1930, incumbent U.S. representative Florian Lampert died after a serious car accident. By the end of the month, Reilly announced he would run again in the 6th congressional district to succeed Lampert. A convention of Democrats in the 6th district blessed Reilly's candidacy, but also endorsed two other candidates, Dr. Clarendon J. Coombs and
Morley G. Kelley. Due to Lampert's death, a
special election to fill the office remaining months of the
71st Congress was held concurrent with the general election in 1930. Reilly won both primary elections with similar totals, receiving about 52% in both races. The Republican nominee was Philip Lehner, a progressive attorney from Green Lake County who had twice previously run for the nomination unsuccessfully. The
Oshkosh Northwestern painted the race was a foregone conclusion and predicted it would safely be retained by the Republicans. Other newspapers were more skeptical, predicting a Republican revolt against the Lehner nomination, due to Lehner's personal history and the complicated politics inside the Republican Party at the time. Lehner was a progressive, but was not liked by the progressive leadership aligned with
John J. Blaine. Stalwart Republicans also sought to thwart the progressives in the 1930 election as retaliation for previous progressive alliances with Democrats against stalwart Republican nominees. Part of the progressive resentment against Lehner was also his endorsement of Prohibition. Reilly on the other hand was an unapologetic enemy of the
Prohibition amendment; he had voted against it in Congress, and promised to seek its repeal if elected again. Republican stalwarts in the district did ultimately end up endorsing Reilly over Lehner, and their endorsement likely proved decisive—Reilly won the special and general election by 575 votes and 620 votes, respectively, receiving about 50% of the vote in both elections. Oh his initial arrival in
Washington, D.C., Reilly hired Harry E. Schlerf as his private secretary; Schlerf had served 11 years in the same position under the previous incumbent, Lampert, and had sought the Republican nomination to succeed him. Reilly also sought to ensure Lampert's last bill was passed by the House—a bill authorizing a federal survey of the Fox River for flood control plans. During this short term, Reilly also became one of the early advocates for censorship of the motion picture industry, saying "movies have done more to demoralize our people, young and old, than any other factor in our modern life." With no seats available on the House Agriculture Committee, Reilly was offered a seat on the
House Banking Committee. The political dynamics in the House changed dramatically with the start of the
72nd Congress, in March 1931, when the House majority was one of the smallest in the history of the Congress. At the start of that term, Republicans held 217 seats and Democrats held 216. A dispute between progressive and stalwart Republicans prevented them from organizing the House. By October 1931, Democrats had taken the majority in the House through special elections, and elected
John Nance Garner speaker. Reilly maintained his advocacy for the repeal of Prohibition in this term; through his position on the banking committee, he introduced the
Federal Home Loan Bank Act, which passed and was signed into law in the Summer of 1932. Due to the
Reapportionment Act of 1929—which capped the total number of members of the U.S. House of Representatives at 438—Wisconsin lost a House seat in reapportionment following the
1930 census. Republicans held an overwhelming majority in the
60th Wisconsin Legislature, which took on the task of redistricting in 1931. Political press in Wisconsin largely expected that the Republican Legislature would shift the districts to pit Reilly, the sole Democrat, in an incumbent-vs-incumbent matchup. The politics of redistricting in 1931, however, were more complicated than partisanship—Wisconsin's prohibition and anti-prohibition forces had other priorities. Instead the new map pitted stalwart Republican
Charles A. Kading against prohibition-supporting Republican
John M. Nelson. But all of Wisconsin's remaining congressional districts were dramatically reshaped by the 1931 redistricting, and Reilly's 6th district was no exception. Manitowoc, Green Lake, and Marquette counties were removed from the district, Sheboygan, Washington, and Ozaukee counties were added. The changes actually had the effect of strengthening Reilly's chances of re-election with the addition of consistently Democratic-leaning Ozaukee and Washington counties. In March 1932, Reilly endorsed
Franklin Roosevelt over Al Smith, saying that Roosevelt was most likely to follow through on repealing Prohibition. In the fall, Reilly faced a
primary challenge from former Sheboygan mayor
Theodore Dieckmann, but Reilly easily defeated him, taking 73% of the primary vote. At the general election, Reilly faced a relatively strong Republican opponent in state senator
L. J. Fellenz, the younger brother of his former law partner Henry M. Fellenz. Reilly won comfortably in the Democratic wave election. After winning re-election, Reilly was able to fulfill one of his chief political ambitions, voting for the
Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution at the end of the 72nd Congress—beginning the process of repealing the 18th Amendment. The 1932 election ushered in President Franklin Roosevelt and large Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress; Reilly was a loyal and reliable vote for Roosevelt's entire agenda. From his seat on the House Banking Committee, he participated in the crafting and passage of many of Roosevelt's early emergency acts to address the ongoing Great Depression, including the
Emergency Banking Act of 1933, the
Securities Act of 1933, and the
1933 Banking Act. Reilly also provided his vote for the federal pension-slashing
Economy Act of March 20, 1933, despite the opposition of many in the Democratic caucus—the bill was so unpopular, Reilly felt the need to explain his vote to his constituents, writing, "President Roosevelt is the economic doctor in charge of our sick industrial world; he is the only hope of this country today; and if his economy and emergency legislative program fails, I tremble to think of our country's political and economic future. Reilly faced another primary challenge in 1934, this time from businessman Charles R. Fiss. Fiss was a veteran of , an active member of the
American Legion, and a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. He disapproved of several of Reilly's votes on legislation impacting veterans, and vocally supported a more aggressive redistribution of wealth. Reilly won the primary by a wide margin, taking 68% of the vote. Earlier that year, the
Wisconsin Progressive Party formally split from the
Republican Party of Wisconsin, after decades of intra-party feuding. The emergence of a potent third party complicated politics throughout the state. In the general election in the 6th congressional district, Reilly faced Republican businessman William J. Campbell and Progressive attorney
Walter D. Corrigan Sr. With all three candidates receiving significant support from their constituencies, Reilly managed to prevail with just 42% of the vote. Reilly had also advocated for several years for finding new revenue sources to begin to address the growing federal budget deficit and was cheered by Roosevelt's endorsement of the
Revenue Act of 1935. He voted, along with most of the Democratic caucus, for the
Social Security Act, but broke with Roosevelt over his preferred version of the
Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, believing the
corporate death penalty included in the act would ultimately just punish common shareholders. Reilly ran afoul of the veteran community again over the
Adjusted Compensation Payment Act, which offered payment to veterans in response to the
Bonus Army movement. Roosevelt initially vetoed the act but Congress overrode his veto; Reilly was among the minority who voted against overriding Roosevelt's veto. Reilly also outraged several farm groups over his continued opposition to the
Frazier–Lemke Farm Bankruptcy Act; the issue was inflamed by national radio pioneer demagogue Father
Charles Coughlin, who suggested Reilly was "controlled by Wall Street". Reilly later signed the
discharge petition to bring the Frazier–Lemke bill to the floor, but said he still planned to vote against it, leading to attacks from both sides. In the end, he was the only member of the Wisconsin delegation to vote against the bill. Reilly had further problems with farmers over the replacement for the
Agricultural Adjustment Act, which had been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Wisconsin farmers found the replacement legislation, the
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936, insufficient and potentially dangerous to their interests—Reilly again was alone as the only member of the Wisconsin delegation to vote in favor of the law. Reilly avoided a primary challenge in 1936 but faced another perilous three-way general election against Republican
Frank Bateman Keefe, a popular attorney from Oshkosh, and Progressive state representative
Adam F. Poltl, also at that time the mayor of
Hartford, Wisconsin. Keefe ran an energetic and aggressive campaign against the Roosevelt agenda, accusing him of wasteful spending and challenging Reilly on the effect of the administrations anti-tariff policies on Wisconsin farmers. Poltl accused Reilly of insufficient liberalism, pointing to his opposition to the more generous
Townsend plan for old age pensions, and to his positions on farm legislation which tended to be less generous to Wisconsin farmers. Reilly narrowly survived the election, receiving just 39% of the vote. After nearly losing his seat in 1936, Wisconsin newspapers and political prognosticators predicted Reilly would not survive the mid-term election of 1938. Reilly sought to mitigate his weaknesses during the
75th Congress. To attempt to repair his relationship with farmers, he voted with the rest of the Wisconsin delegation to override the Roosevelt veto on H.R. 6763—a measure which extended and expanded an emergency mortgage relief law. He also sought an alliance with the progressives to obtain their support for his federal race, in exchange for his support for their state candidates. Reilly remained a mostly reliable vote for Roosevelt, however, and was one of only two Wisconsin representatives to vote for Roosevelt's
government reorganization legislation in 1938. In 1938, Reilly drew another primary challenge, this time from Joseph Willihnganz of Sheboygan. Willihnganz was a first-time candidate who criticized Reilly for too much adherence to whatever Roosevelt demanded; he said: "I don't agree with him on that because I don't think President Roosevelt is a democrat." Willihnganz argued for a more radical approach, including government ownership of banks. After losing the Democratic nomination to Reilly, Willihnganz agreed to run in the general election under the
Union Party banner. In addition to Willihnganz, Reilly faced a general election rematch with his 1936 opponents, Keefe and Poltl. Keefe ran a more belligerent campaign than 1936, openly feuding with Wisconsin newspaper editors. He again attempted to nationalize the campaign, attacking Roosevelt as a "dictator" over his court-packing plan and a proposed government reorganization plan. Keefe also adopted populist positions, such as endorsing the Townsend plan for old-age pensions, which Reilly had previously rejected. It was a disastrous mid-term for the Democrats and Reilly was soundly defeated in his election; Keefe received an outright majority with 53.6% of the vote. After losing his seat in Congress, Reilly did not run for office again, but remained an active public speaker on behalf of the Democratic Party and Roosevelt. ==Personal life and family==