 McKinley was born in 1843 in Niles , Ohio . After service in the Civil War , he became a lawyer and settled in Canton , Ohio . In 1876 , he was elected to Congress and remained there most of the time until 1890 , when he was defeated for re @-@ election in a gerrymandered district . By this time he was considered a likely presidential candidate , especially when elected governor in 1891 and 1893 . McKinley had incautiously co @-@ signed the loans of a friend , and demands for repayment were made on him when his friend went bankrupt in the Panic of 1893 . Personal insolvency would have removed McKinley as a factor in the 1896 campaign , but he was rescued from this by businessmen who supported him , led by his friend and political manager , Mark Hanna . With that obstacle removed , Hanna built McKinley 's campaign organization through 1895 and 1896 . McKinley refused to deal with the eastern bosses such as Thomas Platt and Matthew Quay , and they tried to block his nomination by encouraging state favorite son candidates to run and prevent McKinley from getting a majority of delegate votes , which might force him to make deals on political patronage . Their efforts were in vain , as the large , efficient McKinley organization swept him to a first ballot victory at the 1896 Republican National Convention , with New Jersey 's Garret Hobart as his running mate . 
