His father was the head of the New York branch of the wholesale coal and iron firm of Lewis Audenried & Company.

Potts followed in his father's footsteps, working in the coal and iron business in New York City.

[1] Potts had a farm in Pittstown, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and from this base he was recruited to become the Republican candidate for the House of Representatives in New Jersey's 4th congressional district.

He was defeated, although by a narrower than usual margin in a district that was known as "the Democratic Gibraltar."

He was elected to the New Jersey Senate in 1873 as a Republican, breaking a long succession of Democratic victories in the Hunterdon County stretching "since the days of the Jackson.