Theodore C. Froemming

Theodore Froemming was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in May 1873. He was educated in a parochial school, then graduated from the Milwaukee Business University and attended Concordia University Wisconsin.^[1] He worked as a building contractor and also managed a stone quarry.

He became active with the Republican Party of Wisconsin and in 1898 he was elected to the Republican county committee in Milwaukee. He was then elected to the Milwaukee City Council in 1900 and re-elected in 1902; he represented the 21st ward, which then comprised a segment of the city's north side, on the west bank of the Milwaukee River.

In 1904, he was the Republican nominee for Wisconsin State Senate in the 4th Senate district—comprising roughly the northern quarter of Milwaukee County. At the general election, he prevailed with 43% of the vote in a three-way race. He was the youngest member of the State Senate in 1905, when he was 32.^[1] He was not a candidate for re-election in 1908.

At the time of his election, the state Republican Party was enduring a bitter split between the progressive wing led by Governor Robert M. La Follette and the conservative or "stalwart" wing. La Follotte's faction held 16 Senate seats (one less than needed for a majority), and Froemming was one of a handful in the middle who were courted by both factions.^[2][3] After a series of compromises, Froemming sided with the La Follette faction.^[4]