Foss served three one-year terms, during which a series of reform measures were enacted. Foss signed measures covering employer liability and workmen's compensation, but also vetoed bills authorizing the tenure of school teachers and the right to picket. He signed an election reform bill changing primaries to direct elections, and a bill setting a minimum wage for women and children, and one allowing jury trials for cases involving the violation of strike injunctions. He also promoted and signed bills that benefited his own businesses. In 1911 he led a somewhat quixotic campaign to deprive Senator Lodge of his seat; his campaigning ended up having the opposite effect, essentially killing the chances of either Democrats or progressive Republicans to unseat Lodge.