Springer's political career took off in 1970 when he ran for Congress. Soon after he was elected to the Cincinnati City Council but was forced to resign in 1974 after admitting to hiring a prostitute.

Nevertheless in 1977 he became the 56th Mayor of Cincinnati which he followed with a career in journalism culminating in the famed 'Jerry Springer Show'. Commitments to the show stopped him from running for Senate again in 2003.