He was a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve during World War II from 1941 to 1942, while a Member of Congress.

[1][2] Worley won the Democratic primary nomination following a mass campaign including many high school students.

[1] In the 1948 general election, Worley handily defeated the Republican Party nominee, Texas historian and rancher J. Evetts Haley, who ran for governor as a Democrat in 1956 and then returned to the GOP to support Barry M. Goldwater in 1964.

[citation needed] Worley's most notable electoral opponent during his Congressional years was LaMarr Bailey, a World War II veteran who ran as an anti-New Dealer.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress to the languase