He attended the public schools, and from the age of fourteen until he was nineteen was employed as an iron molder.

He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1874 and commenced practice in Hudson County, New Jersey.

He was a member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1889 to 1891, and a judge of the district court of Hoboken from 1891 until his resignation in 1892.

[citation needed] Daly was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth Congress and served from March 4, 1899, until his death at Hoboken, New Jersey.

[1] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress