 In the gubernatorial election of 1878, the Red Shirts made a nominal appearance as Hampton was re-elected without opposition.Future South Carolina Democratic politicians, such as Benjamin Tillman and Ellison D. Smith, proudly claimed their association in their youth with the Red Shirts as a "bona fide" for white supremacy.Red Shirts were active again around the 1896 and 1898 elections, allied with the Democrats' appeals to voters to support white supremacy, in an effort to avoid voters moving to the Populist fusion candidate, as some had done in the 1896 gubernatorial election.