He won a comfortable majority holding the Highwood electoral district for the Progressive Conservatives over Don Dearle of the Liberals and Janice Belgum of the New Democrats.
He won his second term with a landslide majority in the 1993 Alberta general election defeating three other candidates.
Tannas improved his plurality to sweep into office for a third term in the 1997 Alberta general election.
[3] Tannas won the biggest plurality of his political career taking almost 80% of the vote in the 2001 Alberta general election.
[5][6] His son Scott Tannas was appointed to the Senate of Canada for the province of Alberta on March 25, 2013.