Ganduje ya shiga jam’iyyar NPN a jamhuriyya ta biyu sannan ya zama mataimakin sakatare na jihar Kano daga 1979 zuwa 1980.
Ya tsaya takarar ɗan majalisar wakilai a 1979 ƙarƙashin jam’iyyar NPN, amma bai yi nasara ba.
A 1998, ya shiga PDP inda ya nemi jam’iyyar ta tsayar da shi takarar gwamna, amma bai yi nasara ba, maimakon haa sai ta tsayar da Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso.
Amma aka zaɓi Ganduje a matsayin mataimakin Kwankwaso tsakanin 1999 da 2003, sun sake cin zaɓen gwamna da mataimakin gwamna a Kano a shekara ta 2011 zuwa 2015.
A 2015 ne kuma, aka zaɓi Dakta Abdullahi Umar Ganduje matsayin gwamnan Kano, inda ya yi wa’adin mulki biyu daga 2015 zuwa 2023.