He took control of politics in Brownsville, Brooklyn and was voted into office representing the Democratic Party.
He led the effort to oppose socialists who were against United States involvement in World War I. Schorenstein became the first Jewish Democratic District leader.
He was able to impress the Irish political machine and was appointed an election district captain at the age of 20.
Milton S. Gould, Schorenstein's friend who was a lawyer said, "there was one tragic flaw in the effulgent personality of this municipal monarch: He was illiterate.
[4] His nephew Walter Herbert Shorenstein was a real estate investor and a top Democratic donor who, at one point, became the largest landlord in San Francisco.