Twenty years after first holding the governorship, Chandler again entered the gubernatorial race in 1955, using the slogan "Be like your Pappy and vote for Happy." His opponents in the Democratic Party, led by senator and former Governor Earle C. Clements and sitting Governor Lawrence Wetherby, had difficulty finding a candidate to oppose him. The most likely choice, Lieutenant Governor Emerson "Doc" Beauchamp, was handicapped by his connections to political bosses in Logan County. Clements virtually handpicked a relatively unknown candidate, Kentucky Court of Appeals Judge Bert T. Combs. Because Combs, whom Chandler nicknamed "The Little Judge," had no record for Chandler to campaign against, Chandler portrayed him as a pawn of Clements and Wetherby, whom he derisively referred to as "Clementine" and "Wetherbine."