Nashville Tennessean, to help him win reelection in 1928. Lea's rivals, Memphis political boss E. H. Crump and Nashville political boss Hilary Howse, endorsed Hill McAlister, who had been defeated by Peay in 1926. A third candidate, Lewis S. Pope, also sought the Democratic nomination, and had the backing of Peay's widow. After a hard-fought primary campaign, Horton won the nomination with 97,333 votes to 92,017 for McAlister, and 27,779 for Pope. In the general election, he defeated the Republican candidate, Raleigh Hopkins, 195,546 votes to 124,733. During Horton's second term, he and Lea began using state patronage to distribute jobs in Memphis in an attempt to weaken Crump's influence there. Crump, who was running for Congress and wanted to focus on his own campaign, agreed to support Horton in the 1930 governor's race if he and Lea would stop providing patronage to his foes. With Crump out of the way, Horton defeated his chief opponent, Lambert Estes Gwinn, 123,642 to 88,416 in the Democratic primary. He defeated C. Arthur Bruce in the general election, winning 144,995 votes to Bruce's 101,285. Four days after Horton was reelected governor, the Bank of Tennessee, owned by Lea associate Rogers Caldwell, was declared insolvent following the stock market crash in 1929, and Caldwell’s banks throughout the South soon followed. Horton had deposited more than $6 million in state funds in Caldwell's banks, all of which was lost. A Tennessee General Assembly investigation produced charges that Horton had conspired with Lea and Caldwell to run branches of state government for their own financial gain in exchange for Lea’s political support. Crump and his allies assailed Horton for depositing state funds in the banks of his political allies. They also attacked Horton for awarding no-bid contracts to Caldwell's road-paving company, Kyrock. A motion calling for Horton's impeachment was voted on by the state House in June 1931, but the motion failed, 58 to 41. Horton finished his term and did not seek reelection. During Horton's tenure as governor, he continued most of Peay's reform initiatives. He abolished a land tax that had been unpopular with farmers, established a parole board, created a state division of aeronautics, and developed a secondary state highway system. He supported statues of Andrew Jackson and John Sevier being placed in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. Later life and legacy Following his final term as governor, Horton retired to his farm