Career
Gesell ran as a candidate for the Progressive Conservatives in the 1989 Alberta general election. He also left the caucus for the lack of free votes and free speech in the legislature. Clover Bar electoral district was abolished due to redistribution in 1993, Gesell ran for a second term in office as an independent candidate in the 1993 Alberta general election in the new electoral district of Clover Bar-Fort Saskatchewan.
He was defeated by Liberal candidate Muriel Abdurahman.