He previously served as a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 15 in suburban Montgomery County north of Houston.

Keough polled 57% of the vote against his intra-party opponent, Bruce Tough, who was the chairman of The Woodlands township board of directors, who received 43%.

[4] In 2015, Keough introduced legislation to establish statewide victim-offender mediation for punishments with the goal of reducing recidivism in prisons.

He proposed the abolition of sanctuary cities, those in which municipalities forbid the use of any local funds to enforce national immigration laws.

[4] Keough was unopposed in both the 2016 Republican primary and the 2016 general election, winning another two year term to the Texas legislature.

[5] Keough announced on May 31, 2017, he would not seek re-election to the Texas House but instead run against incumbent Montgomery County Judge Craig Doyal.

[6][7] Doyal and others in Montgomery County were indicted on June 24, 2016, on the charge of conspiring to circumvent the Texas Open Meetings Act.

"[11] On May, 26, 2019 Keough delivered on his promise contained in his contract with Montgomery County to remove the toll charges from the State Hwy 242 connector ramp with Interstate 45.