Theodore Engel (1866 - January 8, 1935) was an American plumber and contractor from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who spent fourteen years as a Republican member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.[1][2]

Background

edit

Engel was born in Milwaukee County in 1866, attended Grace Lutheran School and public schools before dropping out to become a plumber. He pursued that trade for some years before becoming a general contractor.

Public office

edit

Engel first ran for the Assembly's 15th Milwaukee County district (15th and 19th Wards of the City of Milwaukee in 1914, as a Democrat, coming in third with 1042 votes, behind Republican George Reinhardt's 2180 votes and Socialist Charles Towsley's 1143 votes. (Republican incumbent August Dietrich was not a candidate for re-election.)[3]

In 1916, Reinhardt was not a candidate. Engel ran as a Republican (there was no Democratic nominee in the district), and won, with 3094 votes to 1542 for Socialist Frank Bauer.[4] Bauer challenged him again in 1918 and won by three votes, with 1,958 votes to 1,955 for Engel and 1,371 for Democrat Leonard Broennen.[5]

Bauer was not a candidate for re-election in 1920, and was succeeded by Engel, who polled 6,368 votes to 3,280 for Socialist Arthur Richter (again, there was no Democratic candidate).[6] He would be re-elected for the next five terms, although not always by broad margins; but lost his seat in 1932, with 5,915 votes to 6,687 for Democrat Thomas H. Caffrey and 3,101 for Socialist Charles Schalbe.[7] He challenged Caffrey again in 1934, coming in second in a five-way race.[8]

References

edit