In keeping with custom at the time, once appointed to cabinet Cross resigned his seat in the legislature and contested it in a by-election. His by-election was held at the same time as four others, and while Liberal papers were unhesitant about endorsing the Liberal candidates in those, in Edmonton they gave Cross a somewhat bumpier ride. The "Calgary Albertan", in an editorial advocating the return of Liberal candidates in all five by-elections, criticized Cross as "disloyal to in the beginning, and doubtless will be to the end." The "Edmonton Bulletin", still owned by Oliver, complained that while in the other four by-elections voters were being asked to judge Sifton's government, in Edmonton it appeared that they were being asked to judge Rutherford's. Cross defeated his main opponent, Conservative Albert Ewing, but by a much smaller margin than he had managed in 1905 and 1909. Ewing claimed electoral fraud and appealed the outcome to the courts, but the 1913 election pre-empted his appeal. In that election, perhaps recalling the narrowness of his by-election win, Cross ran in two ridings, Edmonton and Edson. He won both (Ewing was the second victor from the two-member Edmonton district), making him the only person in Alberta history to represent two constituencies at the same time (though not the only one to try: Sifton also did so in 1913, and Boyle would in 1921).