Goto left the ministry in 1995, and ran unsuccessfully for the Nagano 4th constituency seat in the House of Representatives in the 1996 election as a member of the New Frontier Party.

He ran again in 2000 as a member of the Democratic Party of Japan and was elected for the first time.

Goto lost his seat to Kōji Yazaki in the 2009 general election, but reclaimed it once more in 2012, and has continued to hold it since, most recently winning reelection in 2024.

A member of the Liberal Democratic Party, he was selected to become Economic Revitalization Minister in October 2022 upon the cabinet resignation of Daishiro Yamagiwa.

[1] Goto previously served as Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare from October 2021 to August 2022.