Incumbent Morgan L. Martin, a former War Democrat turned independent who aligned himself with the Liberal Republicans in opposing the re-election of Ulysses S. Grant), was not a candidate.

[5] He was elected once more to the Senate, this time to the Second District (Brown, Door and Kewaunee counties) for the 1876-1877 term, as a "Democratic Reform" candidate, winning 4018 votes to 2036 for Republican George Grimmer.

In 1877 he was re-elected as a Democrat (the Reform coalition having collapsed by then), with 1874 votes to 1593 for Republican State Representative William Fisk and 638 for Greenbacker B. F.

Hudd served as a delegate to the 1880 Democratic National Convention, and was elected once more to the Senate in 1881, in a new Second District consisting solely of Brown County.

On February 23, 1886, Hudd was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth Congress to fill the vacancy for Wisconsin's 5th congressional district caused by the death of Joseph Rankin; Charles Day succeeded him in the Senate seat they had contested.