In 1902, after 3rd congressional district Congressman and Speaker of the United States House of Representatives David B. Henderson announced his retirement from Congress, Sweet finished third on each convention ballot for the Republican nomination, losing to Benjamin P.

[1] In 1904, when Sweet's final term in the legislature ended, he served as delegate to the Republican National Convention.

In 1914, Sweet was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 3rd congressional district in the Sixty-fourth Congress, replacing incumbent Democratic Congressman Maurice Connolly (who had run for the U.S.

Two years later, however, Sweet had another opportunity to run for the same Senate seat, and by then Brookhart had lost the support of Iowa Republican Party leaders because of his anti-business, pro-union stances, and this time Sweet was Brookhart's only serious challenger in the Republican Primary.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress