Theodore Engel

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

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

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

1. Cannon, A. Peter, ed. Members of the Wisconsin Legislature: 1848 – 1999. State of Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau Informational Bulletin 99-1, September 1999; p. 48 Archived 2006-12-09 at the Wayback Machine
2. Anderson, William J.; Anderson, William A., ed. The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1929 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1929; pp. 564-565
3. The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1915 Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1915; pp. 251, 525
4. The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1917 Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1917; p. 297
5. Hunter, Paul F., ed. The Wisconsin blue book, 1919 Madison: Democrat Printing Co., State Printer, 1919; pp. 162, 447
6. The Wisconsin blue book, 1921 Madison: 1921; p. 232
7. Witte, Edwin E.; Kelly, Alice, ed. The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1933 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1933; p. 554
8. Ohm, Howard F.; Bryhan, Leone G., ed. The Wisconsin Blue Book, 1935 Madison: Democrat Printing Company, State Printer, 1935; p. 628