In the German general election, 1903 he gained the majority of the votes in the Alsace-Lorraine constituency No. 9 (comprising about the rural district Straßburg-Land, not including the city of Strasbourg proper). In the next elections, he ran in two constituencies simultaneously, in No. 9 again and in No. 3 (Colmar), however, in both cases he only came second by votes and also lost the run-offs. In 1905 Colmar's city parliament elected him mayor with 15 of 29 votes. On 22 October 1911 he ran for a seat in the second chamber in the Alsace-Lorraine state election but failed, but since William II wanted him to be a member of the state parliament, he appointed him non-elected member of the upper house.