In 1883, he was elected to the Executive Board of Rochester and was reelected three times serving over eleven years. From 1894 until March 1895, he served as the Mayor of Rochester, New York where he earned a reputation as the formidable upbuilder of the city where "he made Rochester a real city, something of a model, with clean streets and able policemen and efficient fireman. That upbuilding of a town involved many matters of contract, many appointments, many a kind word spoken in a quarter where it would do someone good." While Merton E. Lewis succeeded Aldridge in an acting capacity, the candidate he picked as his successor, Hiram Edgerton, lost to Municipal Court Judge George E. Warner, a Democrat.
In 1895, he was appointed the Superintendent of Public Works by Governor Levi P. Morton, serving until January 16, 1899. While in office, he sought the Republican nomination to succeed Morton for Governor but lost the nomination to U.S. Representative Frank S. Black, who was then elected Governor. As Commissioner, however, $9,000,000 "passed through his hands and it is of record that his incumbency was marked by gross mismanagement, incompetency and waste of money." Black's successor, then Governor Theodore Roosevelt, appointed a commission to investigate Aldridge, however, "no criminal charges resulted, but its findings were not complimentary." In 1902, Aldridge was appointed the Secretary of the State Railway Commission, by Governor Frank W. Higgins eventually becoming its Chairman, and holding office until 1907, when it was replaced by the Public Service Commission under Governor Charles Evans Hughes. Aldridge again sought higher office in 1910 following the death of U.S. Representative James Breck Perkins, when he sought election to replace Perkins, but was ultimately defeated by the Democratic candidate, James S. Havens. In 1913, he became president of the American Cement Corporation, the largest of its kind out side of New York City.
Party boss
Although he lost his bids to become a member of the U.S. Congress and to serve as New York State Governor, Aldridge was a well-known Republican party boss in Rochester and greater New York. During the Republican administration of Governor Charles Seymour Whitman, he was a member of Whitman's "Kitchen Cabinet" and was part of a triumvirate, known as the "Big Three" that once ruled the state with Thomas C. Platt and Francis Hendricks. The triumvirate later became the "Big Four" of Republican state politics with only Aldridge remaining alongside U.S. Representative William L. Ward, Fred Greiner, and James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. of Western New York. In 1888, he became a member of the New York Republican State Committee and soon thereafter was placed on the Executive Committee which he served on until his death. Aldridge was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1896, 1900, 1904, 1908, 1912, 1916 and 1920 where he put forth the name of his friend, Warren G. Harding, who was later elected President. He was appointed Collector of the Port of New York in 1921 by his friend President Warren G. Harding. In this role, "he had not become a particularly conspicuous figure." He remained in the role until his death the following year in 1922.
Personal life
Aldridge was married to Mary Josephine MacNamara. Mary was the daughter of William MacNamara and Mary MacNamara. Together, they were the parents of one child:
George Washington Aldridge III, a 1917 Harvard graduate who served as the Commissioner of Jurors. He married Edith Brooks Hunt of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
