Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Tracy graduated from Yale College in 1806.

Tracy was elected to the Twentieth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of David E. Evans.

He was reelected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-first and Twenty-second Congresses and served from November 5, 1827, to March 3, 1833.

He was a presidential elector on the Whig ticket in 1840, voting for William Henry Harrison and John Tyler.

He was appointed presiding judge of Genesee County Court in 1841, and continued in that office until 1846, when he retired from public life.