In 1842, the Democratic candidate for Illinois governor, state senator Adam W. Snyder died in May, just months before the election. Although Ford had never held an elective office, he learned while holding court in Ottawa, Illinois on May 25, 1842 that he had become his party's candidate against Whig Joseph Duncan, a previous governor and long a political nemesis of Ford's family. Although some thought Duncan would win because of rising anti-Mormon sentiment (and the Mormon leader Joseph Smith had told his followers to vote for Democrat Snyder), Ford won 57% of the vote and became the state's 8th governor. Democrats also won large majorities in both houses of the legislature.