Harrison was elected in November 1888 over President Cleveland. By 1889, Foraker was openly opposed by a faction of Ohio Republicans, led by Hanna, Sherman and McKinley. Foraker felt relieved at the break, writing to a friend, "From Toledo to Chicago, my neck was under a yoke, but now I am free." Despite the factional opposition, he sought a third term in 1889, hoping that if Republicans kept their majority in the legislature, he could be elected to the Senate as Sherman's junior colleague in the legislative election to be held in January 1890. He was renominated at the 1889 state convention in Columbus on the second ballot, as the opposition to him was divided.