Lineberger was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative-elect Charles F. Van de Water in California's Ninth Congressional District. He won a special election on February 15, 1921, by a vote of 32,442 to 21,056 for Prohibition candidate Charles H. Randall, whom Van de Water had defeated for re-election three months earlier. Lineberger had 58.5% of the vote to Randall's 38.0%.
Party affiliation: Republican Party