In 1878, Talbot won nomination as the Republican candidate for governor, in a large field occasioned by the impending retirement of Alexander H. Rice. The Democratic opposition was divided by Benjamin Butler's return to that party, and the Republican ticket won the general election, in part by highlighting the wage and benefit differences in mills owned by Butler and Talbot. The campaign was particularly vicious, with Republicans attacking Butler supporters as "Repudiationists, Greenbackers, and Communists". Talbot served one term, and refused to run for reelection the following year. He supported women's suffrage and prison reform, and stronger state control over its railroads.