 Spalding was a member of the commission to relocate the capital of the Territory of Dakota and build the capitol in 1883 and a member of the North Dakota constitutional convention in 1889.He was the chairman of the Republican State central committee of North Dakota 1892–1894 and of the Cass County Republican committee 1896–1898.He was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-sixth Congress (March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1901) and did not seek renomination in 1900.