which, in a partisan vote, gave the majority to the Republicans. 1894 election cycle In the 1894 election, the Republicans gained 27 more House seats for a total of 92; won seven of eight Congressional seats, and regained the governorship. The Populists, however, still held a majority in the state senate. There were several reasons for this electoral turn-around. First, there was a public backlash to the circus-like antics of the 1893 legislative session. Second, the Populists sought to ease off on prohibition and women's suffrage, splitting their base vote. Last, the Republicans successfully prevented a fusion ticket of Populists and Democrats. Populists were in favor of woman's suffrage while Democrats opposed it. Republican leader Cy Leland convinced the Democrats to run their own gubernatorial candidate splitting the opposition vote. 1896 election cycle In the 1896 election, the Populists and the Democrats merged efforts to form a Fusion Party and the Republicans lost 43 House seats for a total of 49; won only two of eight Congressional seats; lost the Governorship; the legislature elected a Populist to the U.S. Senate seat; and Kansas voted for William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic candidate for president. In August 1896 William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, wrote his famous editorial "What's the Matter with Kansas" criticizing the Populist movement. 1898 election cycle In the 1898 election, the Republicans regained power, gaining 43 House seats for a total of 92; won seven of eight Congressional seats; and won the governorship, when William Stanley defeated populist incumbent John Leedy. Mort Albaugh, chairman of the Republican State Committee, was responsible for organizing the Republican effort that overthrew the Populist movement in Kansas. As a final step, the Republicans won a large majority in the 1900 State Senate election. The Populists, as a political organization, faded away after 1898 but their ideas and the issues that provoked this political uprising remained. 1900 election cycle In 1900, the Republicans finished their restoration to power by winning seven of eight Congressional districts, the Governor and all statewides, and a majority in the state Senate and state House. In the 1901 session, with control of both houses of the legislature, the Republicans legislatively prevented future fusion tickets between Populists and Democrats by prohibiting any person to "accept more than one nomination for the same office" and that "the name of each candidate shall be printed on the ballot once