He had already served two terms as Governor and was now only midway in his senatorial term; but if he again showed that he could carry New York he would have demonstrated, so it was thought, that he was the most eligible Democratic candidate for the Presidency.

But he was defeated by a plurality of about 156,000.
The fall elections of 1894, indeed, made havoc in the Democratic party.
In twenty-four States, the Democrats failed to return a single member, and in each of six others, only a single district failed to elect a Republican.

The Republican majority in the House was 140, and the Republican party also gained control of the Senate.

The Democrats who had swept the country two years before were now completely routed.
Under the peculiar American system which allows a defeated party to carry on its work for another session of Congress as if nothing had happened, the Democratic party remained in actual possession of Congress for some months but could do nothing to better its record.

The leading occupation of its members now seemed to be the advocacy of free silver and the denunciation of President Cleveland.