Jones was elected as a
Democrat to the
81st Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
United States Representative Alfred L. Bulwinkle. He was reelected to the three succeeding Congresses, serving from November 7, 1950, to January 3, 1957, but was not a candidate for renomination to the 85th Congress in 1956. He was a delegate to all Democratic State Conventions from 1940 to 1960 and was a delegate to the
Democratic National Convention in 1960. He was the Chairman of the
North Carolina Democratic Party Executive Committee from 1958 to 1960. He was appointed by
Governor Luther Hodges as a member of state constitution commission from 1958 to 1960. Jones was a signatory to the 1956
Southern Manifesto that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in
Brown v. Board of Education. ==Federal judicial service==