In the provincial election June 1926, Shaw led his party to a disappointing 7 seats out of 61. He was personally elected in Bow Valley. In those days, Alternative Voting was used to elect the MLAs in Alberta rural districts. In the first count, he came in second. In the second count, he picked up enough second choice votes from the eliminated Conservative candidate to pass the UFA candidate by one vote, amass a majority of the votes in the district and win the seat.