Durant was a United States Democratic Party politician in the U.S.
state of Oklahoma.
He served as chief of the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory, a member and Speaker of the Choctaw Nation and as the third Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Durant also served as a sergeant-at-arms at the 1906 Oklahoma constitutional convention.
He was the sponsor of a bill that created Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
He was the only Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives to serve simultaneously as Speaker of the Choctaw Nation.