As an advocate of labor, he spoke out to improve the working conditions of local textile factory workers and endorsed a shorter workday.

As a Democrat, he was unusually successful in the Republican stronghold of the northeast.In 1883, Garvin was elected to the first of many terms in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

Due to the Brayton Act of 1901, passed by the securely Republican State Senate to limit the powers of the Governor's office, Garvin was unable to make any executive, legislative, or judicial appointees.

As governor, he shepherded a bill through the Assembly that would allow municipalities to adopt "single voting without transfer" (SNTV) but it was blocked by the state Senate.

In a speech to the Rhode Island General Assembly, he said: "Bribery is so common and has existed for so many years that the awful nature of the crime ceases to impress."

He furnished information for Lincoln Steffens' muckraking article, "Rhode Island: A State for Sale," published in 1905 in McClure's.

Lucy Garvin died in 1898, and in 1907, Lucius married Sarah Emma Tomlinson, a graduate of Perkins School for the Blind.