Editing William McKinley (section)

===Governor of Ohio (1892–1896)===
Even before McKinley completed his term in Congress, he met with a delegation of Ohioans urging him to run for governor. Governor [[James E. Campbell]], a Democrat, who had defeated Foraker in 1889, was to seek re-election in 1891. The Ohio Republican party remained divided, but McKinley quietly arranged for Foraker to nominate him at the 1891 state Republican convention, which chose McKinley by acclamation. The former congressman spent much of the second half of 1891 campaigning against Campbell, beginning in his birthplace of Niles. Hanna, however, was little seen in the campaign; he spent much of his time raising funds for the election of legislators pledged to vote for Sherman in the 1892 senatorial election (state legislators still elected US Senators).{{sfn|Horner|p=46}}{{sfn|Morgan|pp=117–19}}{{efn|Before the passage of the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution]] in 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures.}} McKinley won the 1891 election by some 20,000 votes;{{sfn|Williams|p=50}} the following January, Sherman, with considerable assistance from Hanna, turned back a challenge by Foraker to win the legislature's vote for another term in the US Senate.{{sfn|Horner|pp=86–87}}

[[File:Blaine breaks out.png|right|thumb|Even after his final run for president in 1884, [[James G. Blaine]] was still seen as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination. In this 1890 ''Puck'' cartoon, he is startling Reed and McKinley (right) as they make their plans for 1892.]]

Ohio's governor had relatively little power—for example, he could recommend legislation, but not veto it—but with Ohio a key [[swing state]], its governor was a major figure in national politics.{{sfn|Williams|p=117}} Although McKinley believed that the health of the nation depended on that of business, he was evenhanded in dealing with labor.{{sfn|Gould|p=7}} He procured legislation that set up an arbitration board to settle work disputes and obtained passage of a law that fined employers who fired workers for belonging to a union.{{sfn|Williams|p=122}}

President Harrison had proven unpopular; there were divisions even within the Republican party as the year 1892 began and Harrison began his re-election drive. Although no declared Republican candidate opposed Harrison, many Republicans were ready to dump the president from the ticket if an alternative emerged. Among the possible candidates spoken of were McKinley, Reed, and the aging Blaine. Fearing that the Ohio governor would emerge as a candidate, Harrison's managers arranged for McKinley to be permanent chairman of [[1892 Republican National Convention|the convention]] in [[Minneapolis]], requiring him to play a public, neutral role. Hanna established an unofficial McKinley headquarters near the convention hall, though no active effort was made to convert delegates to McKinley's cause. McKinley objected to delegate votes being cast for him; nevertheless he finished second, behind the renominated Harrison, but ahead of Blaine, who had sent word he did not want to be considered.{{sfn|Horner|pp=92–96}} Although McKinley campaigned loyally for the Republican ticket, Harrison was defeated by former President Cleveland in [[1892 United States presidential election|the November election]]. In the wake of Cleveland's victory, McKinley was seen by some as the likely Republican candidate in 1896.{{sfn|Morgan|pp=128–29}}

Soon after Cleveland's return to office, hard times struck the nation with the [[Panic of 1893]]. A businessman in [[Youngstown, Ohio|Youngstown]], Robert Walker, had lent money to McKinley in their younger days; in gratitude, McKinley had often guaranteed Walker's borrowings for his business. The governor had never kept track of what he was signing; he believed Walker a sound businessman. In fact, Walker had deceived McKinley, telling him that new notes were actually renewals of matured ones. Walker was ruined by the recession; McKinley was called upon for repayment in February 1893.{{sfn|Morgan|pp=129–30}} The total owed was over $100,000 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|.1|1893|r=1}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) and a despairing McKinley initially proposed to resign as governor and earn the money as an attorney.{{sfn|Morgan|pp=130–34}} Instead, McKinley's wealthy supporters, including Hanna and Chicago publisher [[H. H. Kohlsaat]], became trustees of a fund from which the notes would be paid. Both William and Ida McKinley placed their property in the hands of the fund's trustees (who included Hanna and Kohlsaat), and the supporters raised and contributed a substantial sum of money. All of the couple's property was returned to them by the end of 1893, and when McKinley, who had promised eventual repayment, asked for the list of contributors, it was refused him. Many people who had suffered in the hard times sympathized with McKinley, whose popularity grew.{{sfn|Morgan|pp=130–34}} He was easily re-elected in November 1893, receiving the largest percentage of the vote of any Ohio governor since the Civil War.{{sfn|Phillips|p=67}}

McKinley campaigned widely for Republicans in the 1894 midterm congressional elections; many party candidates in districts where he spoke were successful. His political efforts in Ohio were rewarded with the election in November 1895 of a Republican successor as governor, [[Asa S. Bushnell (Governor)|Asa Bushnell]], and a Republican legislature that elected Foraker to the Senate. McKinley supported Foraker for the Senate and Bushnell (who was of Foraker's faction) for governor; in return, the new senator-elect agreed to back McKinley's presidential ambitions. With party peace in Ohio assured, McKinley turned to the national arena.{{sfn|Phillips|pp=69–70}}