He was appointed to the Provincial Legislature in 1994 to fill a vacancy, and in 1995, was elected on a party list headed by fellow Peronist José Manuel de la Sota. The body's approval of a bill to raise legislators' salaries amid a recession led to his resignation within a year, however. He ran for the office of Mayor of Córdoba in 1998; but he was defeated in the Justicialist Party primaries by Germán Kammerath, who had received de la Sota's endorsement.