Represented West Texas, 1963–1965

In 1962 Foreman was elected to Congress from the 16th District in West Texas,^[2] which stretched from El Paso to the Permian Basin. His victory is attributed to the incumbent Democratic Representative J. T. Rutherford having been linked with the Billie Sol Estes scandal.^{[citation needed]} In that same election, the Democrat, later Republican, John B. Connally, Jr., was elected governor over the Republican oilfield equipment executive Jack Cox.

Foreman was defeated when he sought re-election in 1964, a year in which President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Texan, was reelected over Republican U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater in a landslide, and the Republicans suffered massive losses throughout the nation.

Represented southern New Mexico, 1969–1971

Following his defeat, he relocated to New Mexico, where he became active in business and civic affairs in Las Cruces.^[4] In 1968 while residing in Las Cruces, Foreman ran for Congress in the southern district of New Mexico^[2] and upset the two-term Democrat E. S. "Johnny" Walker of Albuquerque. Richard Nixon won New Mexico's electoral votes that year over Hubert H. Humphrey, and that Republican momentum helped Foreman to get elected.^{[citation needed]} Foreman was unseated after a single term in 1970 by Democrat Harold Runnels.

Appointment to two federal jobs

After losing a House seat for the second time in six years, Foreman in 1971 was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Interior in the Nixon administration, and the following year, 1972, he was appointed to a position at the United States Department of Transportation, where he stayed until 1976.^[4]