Lorge prevailed in the four-way primary,[3] and won the general election with 59% of the vote, with Rohan in the race as an independent candidate.
In 1954, State Senator Gordon A. Bubolz resigned, necessitating a 1954 special election to fill the remaining two years of his term.
Senator Joseph McCarthy in 1957, Lorge ran in the Republican primary to serve out the remainder of his term, but came in a distant 6th place.
He was unopposed for the Republican nomination, but lost the general election to Bronson La Follette, who was returning to the office he had previously held in the 1960s.
[8] Rather than run for another term in the mangled district, Lorge, who was then the most senior member of the State Senate, chose to retire.
[8][1] His son, William, attempted a run in the new Senate district, but was defeated in the Republican primary by Waupaca businessman Joseph Leean.
[9] After leaving the Senate, Lorge made one final bid for elected office in 1985, running for Wisconsin circuit court judge in Outagamie County, but was defeated in the primary.