In 1935, Giles and
Bland County voters elected Caudill to represent them, part-time, as their delegate to the
Virginia General Assembly. He served one term, having replaced Dr.
Jasper N. Walker (1866-1938), who was chairman of Bland County's Democratic committee as well as that county's health secretary for thirty years. Caudill was replaced by Dr.
James J. Davidson, who served on the Bland County board of supervisors for 16 years but only one term as a delegate. In 1939, Caudill won election to state senate district 19, representing
Bland,
Giles,
Pulaski and
Wythe Counties. His predecessor,
Anderson E. Shumate had served since 1928. Caudill likewise won re-election several times. Before his retirement after the 1955 session, Caudill had risen to
speaker pro tempore and floor leader of the Senate. He used his political clout to secure construction of a hospital for Giles County, situated in Pearisburg. During his last legislative term, Caudill was a member of the
Gray Commission that ultimately led to the
Stanley Plan which embodied the
Massive Resistance to racial integration vowed by U.S. Senator
Harry F. Byrd after the U.S. Supreme Court decisions in
Brown v. Board of Education. However, because Dr. Caudill retired in 1955, he did not participate in the escalation. Fellow Democrat
D. Woodrow Bird was elected to succeed Caudill representing those counties in the Senate, and fellow Democrat
Charles T. Moses of
Appomattox County succeeded him as the Senate President Pro Tem during Massive Resistance. ==Death and legacy==