He ran for Alaska Territorial Delegate to Congress on the Democratic Party ticket in 1914, but was defeated.

He was appointed to his judgeship January 15, 1915[1] by US President Woodrow Wilson, serving as judge on the US Territorial Court in Fairbanks, Alaska for seven years.

He served in this capacity for 27 years, through a great amount of expansion, and the Alaska constitutional convention.

The Bunnell Building, built in 1959 on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus, is named after him.

The original structure was moved in 1958, becoming the Bunnell House Early Childhood Lab School.