He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and began his political career in the Parliament of Western Australia, serving as a state government minister.

[5] Cunningham was an unsuccessful candidate for ALP preselection prior to the 1911 state election, losing to the incumbent Labor MP George "Mulga" Taylor in the Goldfields seat of Mount Margaret.

[6] Cunningham was secretary of the Federated Miners' Union before his election to the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1916 as a Labor member.

[7] In accordance with electoral legislation at the time, he was also declared elected to the casual vacancy caused by the death of Country Party senator William Carroll, which had been filled by Thomas Marwick as an interim appointee.

[1] In the Senate, Cunningham "spoke lucidly on electoral reform, the rights of Western Australia under the federal system and the struggles of local primary producers, especially wheat farmers and goldminers".

[1] He was part of the "strong network of moderate views and personal loyalty which bound together the leading members of the Labor Party in Western Australia".