 In the 1896 general election, he received a plurality of nearly 44,000 votes, running 10,000 votes ahead of the State ticket.As Governor, he was an outspoken supporter of the Free Silver movement, and he supported the state university and other State schools, as well as the penal and eleemosynary institutions.Under his administration, the State penitentiary was made not only self-sustaining, but a source of revenue to the State.