Hawrelak's first attempt at political office took place in the 1948 municipal election, in which he ran for Edmonton City Council and was defeated, finishing seventh of twelve candidates for alderman.

He was more successful in the next election, winning the last available aldermanic position by finishing sixth of nine candidates after being backed by the Citizens' Committee, a municipal political party dominated by English Canadian businessmen.

In that year's election, he won the position more permanently by winning more than sixty-five percent of the vote and defeating the returned Parsons and one other candidate.

His victory was marred by a riot that erupted when a group of students marching to city hall to protest Hawrelak's re-election victory were met by a mob loyal to the mayor, leading the Edmonton Journal - which was regularly critical of Hawrelak - to speculate that the mob was organized by the same people who "toured meetings during the recent election campaign with the sole purpose of preventing anti-Hawrelak candidates from speaking".

Hawrelak was re-elected in the 1964 election, defeating incumbent alderman and former Member of Parliament George Prudham, but his second stint as mayor also ended prematurely: on March 11, 1965, Chief Justice C.C.

In the 1957 federal election, Hawrelak, still mayor and before his political troubles had started, had run as the Liberal Party of Canada candidate in Edmonton East.

He had come within three hundred votes of unseating incumbent Social Credit Party of Canada MP Ambrose Holowach, but had not hitherto made any subsequent bids for federal election.

However, he also faced new opposition: the council on which he served included a number of urban reformers as well as his old nemesis, alderman Ed Leger.