In 1990, he was accepted into the White House Fellow program and detailed to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative from 1990 to 1991. Brownback then returned to Kansas to resume his position as secretary of agriculture and remained in that position until 1993. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994 and next ran in the 1996 special election to replace Senator Bob Dole, who had resigned his seat during his presidential campaign, beating appointed Republican Sheila Frahm.