He was appointed by Governor Yates in 1901 a member of the State railroad and warehouse commission, but resigned in 1902.

McKinney was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Benjamin F. Marsh.

He was reelected to the Sixtieth, Sixty-first, and Sixty-second Congresses and served from November 7, 1905, to March 3, 1913.

He engaged in the real estate loan business in Aledo, Illinois, until his death in that city on September 29, 1934.

This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress