He represented Waterloo North in the House of Commons of Canada from 1878 to 1887 as a Conservative member.

Kranz was born on 13 June 1834 at Lehrbach in the Grand Duchy of Hesse,[1] which was a part of the German Confederation.

Kranz served as town clerk (1859 to 1867), reeve (1869 to 1870) and mayor (1874 to 1878) of Berlin.

Kranz helped found the Economical Mutual Fire Insurance Company and served as its manager and president.

He was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1887 and 1891, losing to Isaac Erb Bowman each time.