In 1844 Helm was elected to the Kentucky Senate, where he served until 1848.[3] That year he was the Whig candidate for lieutenant governor on a ticket with John J. Crittenden.[1] Helm defeated Democrat John Preston Martin in the general election.[18] The major political question in the state during Helm's time as lieutenant governor was whether to adopt a new state constitution.[17] As a state senator in 1848, Helm had voted to allow the state's citizens to decide the matter in a referendum, but after seeing the document produced by the constitutional convention, he opposed its ratification.[17] In an address to the state senate in 1850 he declared, "I was for reform, and not for revolution.