During the campaign, Polk announced he was in favor of Tennessee joining the Confederacy. He was criticized by secessionists, nevertheless, for not speaking up in favor of separation sooner, and for earlier attacks on Confederate president Jefferson Davis. By the time the campaign had gotten underway, East Tennessee was threatening to withdraw from the state and join the Union, and Polk campaigned as the candidate best suited to reconcile East Tennessee with the rest of the state. He attacked Harris for ordering troops into East Tennessee, arguing the move only served to inflame already-heightened tensions in the region. William G. Brownlow, a leader of the state's Unionists, reluctantly endorsed Polk as a lesser of two evils. On election day, Harris won in a landslide, 74,973 votes to 43,342.