Foraker returned to the practice of law, initially vowing to avoid politics; however, he received a number of letters offering him support in a gubernatorial race in 1885. The 1884 Republican state convention elected Foraker a delegate-at-large to the national convention along with Congressman McKinley and Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna. Sherman's political managers asked Foraker to play an active role in Sherman's presidential campaign, and to place his name in nomination at the convention, which he did, though Walters describes his speech as "weak and unimpressive" by comparison with Foraker's later efforts. Other candidates for the presidential nomination included President Chester A. Arthur (who had succeeded the assassinated James A. Garfield) and John A. Logan, but the convention was dominated by the Blaine forces. Sherman received 30 votes, mostly from Ohio, on the first ballot, but his total thereafter declined, and Blaine secured the nomination on the fourth ballot. There was talk of Foraker for vice president; he received one vote, from New York delegate and Cornell president Andrew D. White. The nominating speech, despite its flaws, made Foraker a national figure. At the convention, Foraker worked with Hanna and with Charles G. Kurtz of Columbus: both would support Foraker in the years ahead, though in the case of Hanna, only for a time. In the fall campaign, both Foraker and Hanna supported Blaine, accompanying the New Englander when he toured Ohio in October. However, Blaine was defeated by the Democratic candidate, New York governor Grover Cleveland.