in 1876, a. w. piper ran for seattle city council representing the third ward and lost, coming in fourth out of five candidates. on his second run, for the third ward again, he just barely won a seat on the council, in 1877, on the socialist ticket. from 1890–1896 the city charter was amended to use a bicameral system, made up of a house of delegates with to members from each of the city's now eight wards, where previously there had been three wards, and a nine-member at-large board of aldermen. piper ran for the board of aldermen in 1896, losing and coming third. he was also a socialist (or populist) nominee for seattle mayor.