[1] Minkley was first elected a member of the Assembly in the Fourth district of Milwaukee County (20th and 22nd wards of the City of Milwaukee) in 1912, with 2365 votes to 1969 for independent Paul G. Dorow, 1331 for Republican Max J. Leutermann, and 54 for Prohibitionist Peter J. Norgaaard, succeeding his fellow Socialist Max E. Binner[2] (Binner, whose old district had been split up after the 1910 United States Census, did not run for re-election.)
[5] In May 1915, he requested an indefinite leave of absence, as the $500 salary and what money he had earned as a housepainter while the Assembly was not in session was insufficient to pay his expenses in Madison.
When the Milwaukee City Hall's Council Chambers were remodelled in 1931, Minkley contributed a stencil design for the ceiling and anteroom[9] on the theme "Human Endeavor and Progress".
"[11] In 1934 he was the Socialist nominee for the Fifth Wisconsin State Senate District, garnering 6,458 votes to 10,435 for Democrat Harold Schoenecker, 6,916 for Republican Bernhard Gettleman, and 5.674 for Progressive Gustave Dick.
"[14] On September 29, 1934, he married Anna Hunter, a widow whom he'd met at the Wisconsin Socialist Party annual picnic in Pleasant Prairie.