He explored a run for governor in 1902, but did not actually run until 1906. He was re-elected in 1908.
He was first married to Ophelia Anne Speights, with whom he had two daughters and a son, but who died in 1894, then to Addie Hollingsworth Harris, who died in 1937. One of his daughters, Frederica, christened the battleshipUSS South Carolina (BB-26) in 1908.