Early Political Career
Bradley's political career began in 1870, when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Garrard County. A Republican in the heavily Democratic Eighth District, Bradley was defeated by Milton J. Durham for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1872. In 1875, his party honored him with a nomination to serve in the U.S. Senate, even though he was too young to legally qualify for the office. Nevertheless, he received the vote of every Republican in the state legislature. The following year, he again lost to Durham for a seat in the House of Representatives, but received 3,000 more votes than any Republican candidate had ever received in that district. He refused his party's nomination for the Senate in 1878 and 1882, and declined a nomination for state attorney general in 1879 because of ill health.
Bradley was unanimously chosen as a delegate-at-large to six consecutive Republican National Conventions. At the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, he was unanimously chosen to second Roscoe Conkling's nomination of Ulysses S. Grant for a third term as president. His rousing oratory gained him the attention of prominent leaders of his party. At the 1884 convention, he was instrumental in defeating a motion to curtail Southern states' representation. President Chester A. Arthur chose Bradley to help recover financial damages from postal officials involved in the Star Route Frauds in 1885, but Bradley resigned this responsibility over differences with U.S. Attorney General Benjamin H. Brewster regarding the prosecution of these cases.
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