Following graduate work at Northwestern University, he entered private practice in 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa.
[1] While serving as Polk County Attorney from 1946 to 1948,[2] he was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Iowa in 1948, losing in the general election to William S. Beardsley.
[1] Formally re-nominated on January 5, 1950, in the face of Gillette's continued opposition, Switzer was not confirmed by the Senate.
In 1957, Iowa Governor Herschel Loveless appointed Switzer to the state district court bench in Des Moines.
While preparing to preside as chairman of the 1960 Democratic State Convention in Des Moines, Switzer was hospitalized for chest pains.