Michael Francis Phelan

In 1903 Phelan ran for the office of Massachusetts State Representative, Phelan received 1,307 votes.[2] Asa T. Newhall received 1,371 votes coming in second behind Republican candidate John W. Blaney who received 1,434 votes.[2] The district sent two representatives to the Massachusetts House, so although Newhall came in second in the vote total he was elected.[2]

In 1904 Phelan was elected as a Democrat to serve in the Massachusetts House of Representatives of 1905.[1]

Phelan was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1913 – March 3, 1921).

Phelan served as chairman of the Committee on Banking and Currency (Sixty-fifth Congress). Phelan was an Irish nationalist, who tried to use his position as a congressman to bring attention to Irish nationalism.[3] He was opposed to American entry into World War I on the grounds that he did not want the United States to be on the same side as the United Kingdom in a war. Phelan was "deeply antisemitic," harboring a lifelong bigotry against Jewish people. He lamented the 1916 United States presidential election on the grounds that "both candidates were England-lovers and Jew sympathizers." He believed that both Charles Evans Hughes and Woodrow Wilson were "profanely flawed" because both men were "pro-British" with regards to foreign policy, and because both men were outspokenly opposed to antisemitism.[4] Woodrow Wilson opposed Phelan when Phelan expressed support for limiting Jewish immigration to the United States.[5] Phelan described this as "unforgiveable."[4]

Phelan was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress. Practiced law in Lynn and Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C.. He served as member of the Merrimac Valley Sewage Commission in 1937. He was appointed a member of the Massachusetts Labor Relations Board in 1937 and served until his death.