Herman C. Schultz

In 1916, Schultz (a "stalwart"), having won a five-way Republican primary against incumbent William L. Richards (a progressive)^[1] and three other candidates,^[2] was elected to the 4th district of the Senate (the Towns of Granville and Milwaukee; Villages of North Milwaukee, East Milwaukee and Whitefish Bay; and the 13th, 18th, 21st and 25th Wards of the City of Milwaukee) in the 1916 general election, with 6,804 votes to 4,408 for Social Democrat Osmore Smith. He was assigned to the standing committee on corporations.^[3]

As secretary of the Milwaukee city election commission, he encouraged the adoption of tabulating machines to count votes.^[4] In January 1920, Schultz chaired the Wisconsin state chapter of the Committee of 48, an organization to unite liberals and progressives in Wisconsin in "a political campaign for real reconstruction".^[5] In February 1920, it was speculated that he would not seek reelection to the state senate so that his continued service as secretary of the election commission would not be challenged.^[6] He in fact was not a candidate in 1920, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Oscar Morris. He remained secretary of the Election Commission.

On January 16, 1920^[7] Schultz filed papers to change his name to Senator Schultz, stating that there were too many Herman Schultzes in Milwaukee, and he was tired of reading about criminal cases involving people of that name in which he had no part.

In 1925, Schultz was a strong supporter of universal postal voting in Wisconsin.^[8] He died December 22, 1935, in a Milwaukee hospital, after an unspecified long illness.^[9]