1987, Ashford was sworn into the state legislature and was appointed to serve on the Judiciary and Transportation committees for the 1987–1989 session. He was appointed to serve on the Appropriations and executive board committees during the 1989–1991 session. He was appointed to serve on the Appropriations committee and serve as the chairman of the Intergovernmental Cooperation committee during the 1993–1995 session. On July 31, 1987, Douglas County Commissioner Steve McCollister said that he and Ashford discussed Ashford switching to the Republican Party and running to succeed Hal Daub as the representative from Nebraska's 2nd congressional district. On August 3, Ashford admitted that he had discussed switching parties, but said that the discussion was theoretical and that he wouldn't run to succeed Daub if Cece Zorinsky ran for the Democratic nomination as polling showed her with 43% against Ashford's 2%. On January 28, 1988, Ashford announced that he had changed his party affiliation to Republican with Governor Kay A. Orr at his side. He stated that he would support the Republican nominee in the Senate election, but the next day he was appointed onto the finance committee of Bob Kerrey's Democratic senatorial campaign. During the 1988 Republican presidential primaries Ashford, eighteen other Republican state legislators, and Lieutenant Governor William E. Nichol endorsed Senator Bob Dole. On February 22, 1990, he announced that he would seek reelection and no other candidates filed to run against him. Interlude In 1995, Ashford and his wife supported Chuck Hagel in the Senate election and sponsored his fundraisers as he supported a ban on the sale of assault weapons and opposed abortion except in the cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life. However, they withdrew their support after Hagel changed his positions to repealing assault weapon bans and being against abortion in all cases except for a threat to the mother's life. During the 1996 Republican presidential primaries he supported Steve Forbes and ran as one of his delegates from the 2nd Congressional district. In 1997, he became a lobbyist to the Nebraska Unicameral and earned $500. 2007–2015 In 2005, he stated that he was considering to run for another term in the state legislature. He later announced that he would run in the 20th state district. In the general election he defeated Carol Casey. He was appointed to serve on the Education committee and as chairman of the Judicial committee during