Chandler promised to repeal the unpopular sales tax, lower the gasoline tax, oppose any increase in property taxes, and end the common practice of assessing state employees a percentage of their salaries to be used for campaign activities. Infuriated by their loss, Laffoon and his allies abandoned the party and supported the Republican nominee, King Swope. Policy-wise, there were few differences between the two, and personal attacks were employed by both sides. Swope's reputation as a stern judge contrasted sharply with Chandler's charisma, and Chandler used that to his advantage by dubbing Swope "his majesty." When Chandler touted his service during World War I, Laffoon's adjutant general Henry Denhardt countered by pointing out that Chandler had been only a cadet in training and never had engaged in active service in the war. Ultimately, the campaign turned on the failed presidential administration of the Republican ex-president Hoover and that of the sitting president, the Democratic Roosevelt. Chandler defeated Swope by a vote of 556,262 to 461,104 in the general election. The 95,000-vote margin of victory was then the largest ever recorded in a Kentucky gubernatorial election, and at only 37, Chandler was the youngest governor of any US state.