[1] In 1873, he was elected as a Republican to a seat in the Iowa State Senate representing Adair, Cass, Adams and Union counties, and was re-elected in 1877, and (after a six-year absence) in 1885.

Soon after his appointment, his position was up for election in the 1911 Iowa General Assembly, where the Republicans held a large majority but were deeply divided among a long list of candidates for Young's seat.

The inability of any candidate to receive the required majority of 76 legislators forced the General Assembly to re-vote each morning of the session.

As the Council's chairman, Young urged that "disloyal" persons should be impoverished and imprisoned, arguing that "[a]ny man who has lived under the protection of our laws and has accumulated wealth and is now disloyal should be deprived of every dollar he possesses and he should be interned in a stockade until the end of the war and at that time his fate should be considered carefully.

"[5] He also campaigned against the teaching of any foreign language in any public school or college, and for the imposition of English literacy tests for voting.