Democratic Party nomination By the beginning of 1892, many Americans were ready to return to Cleveland's policies. Although he was the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, he was far from the universal choice of the party's supporters; many, such as the journalists
Henry Watterson and
Charles Anderson Dana, thought that if nominated, he would lose in November, but few could challenge him effectively. Though he had remained relatively quiet on the issue of silver versus gold, often deferring to bimetalism, Senate Democrats in January 1891 voted for free coinage of silver. Furious, he sent a letter to Ellery Anderson, who headed the New York Reform Club, to condemn the party's apparent drift towards inflation and agrarian control, the "dangerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited coinage of silver at our mints." Advisors warned that such statements might alienate potential supporters in the South and West and risk his chances for the nomination, but Cleveland felt that being right on the issue was more important than the nomination. After making his position clear, he worked to focus his campaign on tariff reform, hoping that the silver issue would dissipate. A challenger emerged in the form of
David B. Hill, former governor of and incumbent senator from New York. In favor of bimetalism and tariff reform, Hill hoped to make inroads with Cleveland's supporters while appealing to those in the South and Midwest who were not keen on nominating Cleveland for a third consecutive time. Hill had unofficially begun to run for president as early as 1890, and even offered former Postmaster General
Donald M. Dickinson his support for the vice-presidential nomination. But he was not able to escape his past association with
Tammany Hall, and lack of confidence in his ability to defeat Cleveland for the nomination kept Hill from attaining the support he needed. By the time of the convention, Cleveland could count on the support of a majority of the state Democratic parties, though his native New York remained pledged to Hill. In a narrow first-ballot victory, Cleveland received 617.33 votes, barely 10 more than needed, to 114 for Hill, 103 for Governor
Horace Boies of Iowa, a populist and former Republican, and the rest scattered. Although the Cleveland forces preferred
Isaac P. Gray of Indiana for vice president, Cleveland directed his own support to the convention favorite,
Adlai E. Stevenson I of Illinois. As a supporter of using paper
greenbacks and
free silver to inflate the currency and alleviate economic distress in rural districts, Stevenson balanced the ticket, as Cleveland supported
hard money and the
gold standard. At the same time, it was hoped that his nomination represented a promise not to ignore regulars, and so potentially get Hill and Tammany Hall to support the Democratic ticket to their fullest in the election.
Republican Party nomination , the incumbent president in 1892, whose term expired on March 4, 1893 Harrison's administration was widely viewed as unsuccessful, and as a result,
Thomas C. Platt (a
political boss in New York) and other disaffected party leaders mounted a dump-Harrison movement coalescing around veteran candidate
James G. Blaine from Maine, a favorite of Republican party regulars. Blaine had been the Republican nominee in 1884, losing to Cleveland. Privately, Harrison did not want to be renominated for the presidency, but he remained opposed to the nomination of Blaine, who he was convinced intended to run, and thought himself the only candidate capable of preventing that. But Blaine did not want another fight for the nomination and rematch against Cleveland in the general election. His health had begun to fail, and three of his children had recently died (
Walker and Alice in 1890, and Emmons in 1892). Blaine refused to run actively, but the cryptic nature of his responses to a draft effort fueled speculation that he was not averse to such a movement. For his part, Harrison curtly demanded that he either renounce his supporters or resign as secretary of state, with Blaine doing the latter a scant three days before the National Convention. A boom began to build around the "draft Blaine" effort, with supporters hoping to cause a break toward their candidate. Senator
John Sherman of Ohio, who had been the leading candidate for the nomination at the 1888 Republican Convention before Harrison won it, was also brought up as a possible challenger. But like Blaine, he was averse to another bitter battle for the nomination and "like the rebels down South, [I] want to be let alone." This inevitably turned attention to Ohio Governor
William McKinley, who was indecisive about his intentions despite his ill feeling toward Harrison and popularity among the Republican base. Although not averse to receiving the nomination, he did not expect to win it either. But should Blaine and Harrison fail to win the nomination after a number of ballots, he felt he could be brought forth as a harmony candidate. Despite the urging of Republican power broker
Mark Hanna, McKinley did not put himself forward as a candidate, afraid of offending Harrison's and Blaine's supporters, while also feeling that the coming election would not favor the Republicans. In any case, Harrison's forces had the nomination locked up by the time delegates met in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 7–10, 1892. Richard Thomas of Indiana delivered Harrison's nominating speech. Harrison was nominated on the first ballot with 535.17 votes to 182 for McKinley, 181.83 for Blaine, and the rest scattered. McKinley protested when the Ohio delegation threw its entire vote in his name, despite not being formally nominated, but
Joseph B. Foraker, who headed the delegation, managed to silence him on a point of order. With the ballots counted, many observers were surprised at the strength of the McKinley vote, which almost overtook Blaine's.
Whitelaw Reid of New York, editor of the
New York Tribune and recent
United States Ambassador to France, was nominated for vice president. The incumbent vice president,
Levi P. Morton, was supported by many at the convention, including Reid himself, but Morton did not wish to serve another term, as he was more interested in positioning himself to run for
governor of New York in 1894. Weaver, the
Greenback Party's 1880 presidential nominee, was nominated for president on the first ballot, now lacking any serious opposition. While his nomination brought with it significant campaigning experience from over several decades, he also had a longer track record that Republicans and Democrats could criticize, and alienated many potential supporters in the South, having participated in
Sherman's March to the Sea.
James G. Field of Virginia was nominated for vice president in an attempt to rectify this problem while also attaining the regional balance often seen in Republican and Democratic tickets. The Populist platform called for nationalization of the telegraph, telephone, and railroads, free coinage of silver, a graduated income tax, and creation of postal savings banks.
Prohibition Party nomination Prohibition candidates: •
John Bidwell, former U.S. representative from
California •
Gideon T. Stewart, Prohibition Party Chairman from
Ohio •
William Jennings Demorest, magazine publisher from
New York Candidates gallery File:John Bidwell circa 1890 3x4.jpg| File:Gideon T. Stewart.png| File:WJenningsDemorest.jpg| The sixth Prohibition Party National Convention assembled in
Music Hall in
Cincinnati, Ohio from June 29 to 30, 1892. There were 972 delegates present from all states except Louisiana and South Carolina. Two major stories about the convention loomed before it assembled. In the first place, some members of the national committee sought to merge the Prohibition and Populist parties. While there appeared a likelihood that the merger would materialize, it was clear that it was not going to happen by the time that the convention convened. Secondly, the southern states sent a number of black delegates. Cincinnati hotels refused to serve meals to blacks and whites at the same time, and several hotels refused service to the black delegates altogether.
John Bidwell,
Gideon T. Stewart, and
William Jennings Demorest sought the party's presidential nomination and a poll of delegates by the
New York Herald showed Bidwell with the most support.
John St. John, the party's 1884 nominee, nominated Bidwell. Bidwell won the nomination on the first ballot. Prior to the convention, the race was thought to be close between Bidwell and Demorest, but the New York delegation became irritated with Demorest and voted for Bidwell 73–7.
James B. Cranfill from Texas was nominated for vice-president on the first ballot with 417 votes to 351 for
Joshua Levering from Maryland and 45 for others.
Socialist Labor Party nomination The
Socialist Labor national convention was held in New York City on August 28, 1892. Despite running on a platform that advocated abolishing the positions of president and vice president, the party nominated candidates for both positions:
Simon Wing and
Charles H. Matchett, respectively. They were on the ballot in five states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
Woman suffrage Wyoming had become a state in 1890 and had included woman suffrage in its state constitution. Thus, Wyoming women were able to vote in the 1892 presidential election, the first time that any American women were able to do so. A "national nominating convention of woman suffragists" met on September 21, 1892, and nominated notorious suffrage and former free-love advocate (at the time, "free love" meant the freedom to marry, divorce and bear children without social restriction or government interference)
Victoria Woodhull for president and
Marietta Stow for vice president. Both had been nominated for these positions before, Woodhull in 1872 and Stow in 1884. Both had been nominated by the National Equal Rights Party, which did not nominate a ballot in 1892; instead, the woman suffrage nominating convention, headed by Anna M. Parker and consisting of 50 delegates from 29 states, stepped in. They were not successful in this, and it was almost 30 more years until the Nineteenth Amendment prohibited discrimination in voting on the basis of sex. == General election ==