From late 1914 Portes Gil worked for the revolutionary movement led by Venustiano Carranza, but he supported Alvaro Obregón against Carranza in the presidential elections of 1920. After Obregón was elected president for the first time, Portes Gil became provisional governor of Tamaulipas. He also was governor of that state from 1925 to 1928, during the presidency of Plutarco Elías Calles. As provisional president of Mexico he found himself unable to freely exercise his presidential powers because of the influence of former president Calles, the dominant political power of the day.

In 1930–31 Portes Gil was president of Mexico's sole political party, the National Revolutionary Party (PNR). Subsequently, he was minister to France and delegate to the League of Nations (1931–32), attorney general, and foreign minister. He retired from politics in 1936.