[1] He entered politics as a Republican, and was elected to the Concord, New York, town board in 1974, and to the Erie County legislature in 1982.

With the help of Vice President Dick Cheney, Reynolds pressured the state legislature to gerrymander his district so that it closely resembled his former territory.

Aside from fallout from the scandal regarding U.S. Representative Mark Foley (R-FL), another factor was thought to be revelations that a former NRCC treasurer [who?]

[7] According to the New York Daily News political reporter Elizabeth Benjamin, the NRCC was never independently audited during Reynolds' three-year tenure as its chairman.

[citation needed] In 2017, Reynolds joined Washington, D.C., lobbying firm Holland and Knight as a senior policy advisor.

Alexander said he passed information that Foley had appeared overly friendly first to Majority Leader John Boehner, and later to Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

[citation needed] Reynolds later issued a statement that he had spoken with House Speaker Dennis Hastert about the matter early in 2006.

According to The Washington Post, "Republican insiders said Reynolds spoke out because he was angry that Hastert appeared willing to let him take the blame for the party leadership's silence.

[12] On October 2, Reynolds held a press conference[13] on the matter, from Buffalo at Daemen College while surrounded by numerous children of his adult supporters.

In December 2006, Reynolds was largely exonerated by the Republican-controlled House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, which probed the Foley case.