He was first elected to a one-year term as a member of the Assembly from Walworth County's 1st Assembly district (Troy, East Troy, and Spring Prairie in 1848 as a Free Soiler to succeed Democrat Gaylord Graves; he was succeeded by Whig Alexander O. Babcock.
He was elected to the Senate (as a Republican) from the 12th District in 1869, succeeding fellow Republican Newton Littlejohn), and re-elected from the new 8th District in 1871, receiving 3,956 votes against 2,161 for Democrat John Tuttle [REF].