McLemore moved to Texas in 1878 and was employed as a cowboy, printer, and newspaper reporter, and later as a miner in Colorado and Mexico.

McLemore moved to Corpus Christi in 1889 and established the Gulf News and was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, serving from 1892 to 1896.

In 1919, McLemore moved from Houston to Hebbronville, and he resumed the newspaper publishing business in South Texas and eventually resided in Laredo.

In 1928, McLemore made one more run for public office for an open US Senate seat, but he was defeated by Thomas T. Connally.

McLemore died in Laredo on March 4, 1929, the day after he would have taken office if he had won the Senate race.