In 1886, Horgan, along with Richard "Dickie" Haynes, formed Western Australia's first Eight Hours Association to agitate for the eight-hour day.

His platform was radical for its time; he advocated responsible government, payment of members, manhood suffrage, a land tax, and a unicameral legislature.

Shortly after the election, he was successfully sued for libel by George Walpole Leake, a member of one of the "Six Hungry Families", and fined £500.

To the great surprise of the colony's ruling elite, Horgan defeated his conservative opponent Septimus Burt by three votes.

Stannage (1979) writes that "Horgan's victory was regarded at the time as a turning point in the history of working men's political activity....

The election had a liberating effect on the minds of the workers, analogous to the victory of Robert Lowe in Sydney forty years previously".