[1][2] On 1 March 1893, Ransom married Antonette Katinka Sondergaard from Palmerston North at her home town.

[6] He stood for Mayor of Dannevirke in 1903, but was beaten by the Lutheran pastor Hans Madsen Ries in a closely fought contest.

[1][7] He represented the rural Wairarapa electorate of Pahiatua for the Liberal Party from 1922, when he defeated Reform's Archibald McNicol.

However, he was narrowly beaten for the position by Sir Joseph Ward, a former Liberal Prime Minister, who had been brought in by party organiser Albert Davy as a compromise candidate.

[13] When a terminally ill Ward resigned as Prime Minister in 1930, Ransom contested the leadership of the party again but lost the caucus ballot to George Forbes.

[2] In 1940, he announced that he would not stand again at the next general election due to poor health,[2] but he died in 1943 before the end of the parliamentary term.