A farmer by profession, he was an unsuccessful candidate at the 1943 and 1944 general elections.
He was elected to Dáil Éireann at the Mayo South by-election on 4 December 1945 as a Clann na Talmhan Teachta Dála (TD) for the Mayo South constituency.
[1] The by-election was caused by the appointment of Micheál Clery of Fianna Fáil as County Registrar of Dublin.
[2] He was subsequently elected to 7th Seanad by the Agricultural Panel.
[2] In the early 1940s, Commons was imprisoned for one month in Sligo Prison for his part in the Mayo land agitation, after which he won a Dáil seat.