In November 1962 Railsback was elected as a
Republican to the
Illinois House of Representatives. Four years later, in the
1966 election, he was elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives, defeating the
Democratic incumbent Gale Schisler. A longtime member of the
House Committee on the Judiciary, he participated in the
1973–74 impeachment process against
President Richard Nixon. Railsback and his Democratic colleague
Walter Flowers led what Railsback called a "fragile bipartisan coalition" which crafted two
articles of
impeachment against Nixon, charging him with:
obstruction of justice in attempting to impede the investigation of the
Watergate break-in and
abuse of power by misusing the authority of the office of the presidency on multiple occasions, dating back to the first year of his administration (1969). He, along with five other Republicans (out of the 17 on the committee), voted with all 21 Democrats in advancing these articles to the House floor. In an emotional July 24, 1974 speech on the House floor, he said that his obligations to uphold the
Constitution superseded his personal loyalties to Nixon, a friend who Railsback praised as having many significant achievements. Despite the vitriol voiced against him by pro-Nixon commentators and constituents, he went on to be re-elected four more times. While in the House, Railsback had a key role in the passage of the
Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974. In 1979, he and Wisconsin Democrat
David Obey co-sponsored legislation to reduce the influence of
political action committees in election spending. He opposed
Ronald Reagan's effort to abolish and eliminate funding for the
Legal Services Corporation, which provided
legal aid to poor Americans. In 1980, Railsback was one of three U.S. House members, along with future Vice President
Dan Quayle of Indiana and
Tom Evans of Delaware, involved in the controversial
Florida golfing trip with lobbyist Paula Parkinson. Parkinson told Larry King in 1988 that she had a "brief" and "fun" affair with Railsback. Over eight terms in office, In 1982, however, Illinois had lost two districts in
reapportionment after the
1980 census, and through
redistricting, Railsback's district (now renumbered as the 17th District) changed in composition to become significantly more conservative. He was defeated for renomination in the 1982 Republican
primary by a considerably more conservative Republican,
State Senator Kenneth G. McMillan. Railsback was a mentor to
Raymond H. LaHood, before becoming a U.S. Representative himself, and later
U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the
Obama administration. == Later life ==