In 1900, Woods made his first bid for political office, successfully contesting the Westmoreland County-based 39th district of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

[1][4] Woods received his first diplomatic appointment in 1912, when President William Howard Taft named him the United States' Envoy to Portugal, with the official title of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, as the United States had not yet elevated the post to ambassador status.

During his time in Japan, he organized the American relief effort in response to the devastating 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, before resigning in 1924.

In 1929, Governor John Fisher, with whom Woods had served in the State Senate,[5] appointed him Pennsylvania Attorney General.

Woods served in the post, his final political or diplomatic appointment, for eighteen months.