[1] He taught school near Independence, Missouri from 1903 to 1906, and at Everson, Touchet, Kahlotus, and Connell, Washington from 1906 to 1913.

[1] He was admitted to the bar and entered private practice in Newport, Washington starting in 1912.

[3] Leavy ran for the open United States Senate seat of Clarence Dill in 1934,[4] but was unsuccessful in the primary against Lewis B. Schwellenbach,[5] a Seattle attorney raised in Spokane, who easily won the general election over Reno Odlin of Olympia.

[6] Leavy was elected as a Democrat from Washington's 5th congressional district to the United States House of Representatives of the 75th, 76th, and 77th United States Congresses and served from January 3, 1937, until his resignation on August 1, 1942, to accept an appointment to the federal bench.

[10] He had been diagnosed with a heart condition approximately a year earlier and had a paralytic stroke on September 11, 1952.