He served two years as chairman of the town board of Burlington, and on the Racine County, Wisconsin board of supervisors; and was twice elected chairman of the county board. He ran for the Assembly for the second Racine County district in 1871 as a Democrat, losing to RepublicanWilliam Vail Moore with 970 votes to Moore's 1184. He was elected in 1873 as part of the "Reform" or "People's Reform" party, a coalitionofDemocrats, reform and Liberal Republicans, and Grangers, which secured the election of William Robert TaylorasGovernor in 1873; with 1,106 votes, against 1,005 for Republican John Balloch (Republican incumbent Richard Richards was not a candidate for re-election). He was assigned to the standing committees on insurance, banks and banking; and on assessment and collectionoftaxes.[1] He was re-elected in 1874 (1430 votes to 1199 for former Assemblyman Republican Hiram D. Morse) and again in 1875, receiving 1,054, against 1,003 for Republican Peter Meyers. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1876, and was succeeded by Republican John T. Rice.