He was a Member of Parliament, representing North Antrim 1899-1906.

He also unsuccessfully contested North Antrim for the assembly elections in 2003 (230 votes, 0.5%).

North Antrim is an overwhelmingly unionist seat.

North Antrim was re-created in 1950 as a larger seat than it had been in its first incarnation.

Coulter did not put his name forth for the 2011 election in North Antrim, effectively retiring.

At the 1979 UK general election, he stood in North Antrim, taking second place, with 23.4% of the vote.

However the boundaries of North Antrim were not changed in the 1996-1997 redistribution.

The seven members elected from North Antrim were:

Sinclair stood in North Antrim in a three-cornered contest but was not successful.

The largest of all went to Ian Paisley in North Antrim.