Elwood Quilty was elected to the Senate in January 3129. He first came to political prominence when he launched his bid to replace Patrick Innes as leader of the Free Democrats in 3154. He was the early frontrunner and most were shocked when he failed to make it into the second round of balloting. As a reward for his contribution to the party, both Josh Grierson-Ryrie and Roger Lemalu, the two remaining candidates for the leadership, announced that Quilty would serve under either of them as the National President of the Free Democrats. He served in that position from 3155 until 3161.