Rodey moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1881 where he became employed as a private secretary for the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad Company.

Active in politics from a young age, Bernard was elected to the territorial senate representing Bernalillo County in 1889.

He fought against a consortium of Eastern senators led by Albert J. Beveridge of Indiana that was threatened by the admission of Western territories as states.

After his terms in Congress, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Rodey as federal judge for the United States District Court for Puerto Rico in 1906.

Although President Warren Harding attempted to persuade Rodey back into politics, he never sought another public office.