He was elected to the Assembly's Fifth Milwaukee County district (the 5th and 12th Wards of the City of Milwaukee) in 1896 as a Populist (but was also the Democratic nominee), receiving 2,621 votes, to 2,447 for Republican T. L. Mitchell and 39 for Socialist Labor candidate Carl Kowalsky (Republican incumbent Albert Woller was not a candidate). He declared his party affiliation as "Populist", the only Wisconsin officeholder elected as a fusion candidate in 1896 to do so (the others all declared themselves to be Democrats, in the wake of the unsuccessful 1896 experiment with Democratic/Populist fusion). He was assigned to the standing committees on finance, banks and insurance; and on public health and sanitation.Casson, Henry, ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin 1897 Madison, 1897; pp. 321, 589, 591-92; 687 In this district, the Populists had outpolled the Democrats in the 1894 election.Casson, Henry, ed. The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin 1895 Madison, 1895; p. 685
