Danford worked as a farmer before entering politics and was a member of the Hastings County Milk and Holstein Clubs.
Danford was a member of the Rawdon council from 1982 to 1984 and served as Reeve and Warden of Hastings County from 1982 to 1994.
[1] In the 1995 provincial election, Danford defeated incumbent NDP candidate Elmer Buchanan by 7,859 votes in the riding of Hastings—Peterborough.
[2] He was a backbench supporter of Mike Harris's government for the next four years and served as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and Food for this entire period.
Danford defeated fellow Tory MPP Bill Vankoughnet to win the Progressive Conservative nomination for the 1999 provincial election in Hastings—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, but lost to Liberal Leona Dombrowsky by almost 2,000 votes.