He became vice-president of the Republican National League of the state of New York in 1895. He campaigned in many states and worked several states for Benjamin Harrison and William McKinley. When Shayne died on February 22, 1906, he left a stock of furs in his emporium valued at $1 million. He was stricken after being diagnosed with a weak heart. He collapsed and died at the Piedmont Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, while he was traveling with his wife, Margaret.