Orland S. Loomis, a Mauston native, lawyer, and World War I veteran, served in the state legislature from 1929 to 1934, was the first state director of the Rural Electrification Administration from 1935 to 1936, represented Wisconsin at the World Power Conference in 1936, and was state attorney general from 1937 to 1938. Wisconsin's last Progressive Party gubernatorial candidate, he won election in 1942 but died before the inauguration.