Henry Clay Evans had been gerrymandered out of office for supporting the Lodge Bill. Though Turney painted Evans as a "carpetbagger," Evans ran an effective campaign, and the initial vote tally on election day indicated Evans had won with 105,104 votes to 104,356 for Turney, and 23,088 for Populist candidate A.J. Mims. The Democratic-controlled legislature, however, declared voter fraud had occurred and negated over 23,000 votes, allowing Turney to win the election by 2,000 votes.[1]