Foraker received early support for a second run for governor in 1885, but said little publicly until the state convention in Springfield in June. He did, however, respond to allegations that he had discriminated against blacks in his law practice and that he had withdrawn from Ohio Wesleyan because a black student had been admitted. Foraker refuted these charges without stating that he was a candidate for office. He arrived at the convention to the strains of "Marching Through Georgia", in reference to his Civil War service, and won an easy first-ballot victory: according to Walters, "the Springfield convention of 1885 marked the arrival of Foraker, the politician." The major issues in the fall campaign were again the liquor question, at which Foraker proved more adept than two years previously, and treatment of the black voter, prompted by an incident in Cincinnati in 1884 when a Democratic-minded policeman, Mike Mullen, locked up 150 blacks the night before the general election to prevent them from voting. Foraker was again opposed by Hoadly, who had pardoned Mullen, and who had accepted a $150,000 fee from the city-owned Cincinnati Southern Railway, though the governor professed not to know how he had earned it. Foraker forged an alliance with black editor Harry Clay Smith, who would be a supporter throughout his political career. On October 13, 1885, Foraker defeated Hoadly by 17,451 votes. Although he won much of the state, he did not carry Hamilton County due to election fraud.