McKinley supported Foraker for the Senate and Bushnell (who was of Foraker's faction) for governor; in return, the new senator-elect agreed to back McKinley's presidential ambitions. With party peace in Ohio assured, McKinley turned to the national arena.[83]

Election of 1896
Further information: 1896 United States presidential election and William McKinley 1896 presidential campaign
Obtaining the nomination
McKinley's close friend and adviser, Mark Hanna
It is unclear when William McKinley began to seriously prepare a run for president. As McKinley biographer Kevin Phillips notes, "No documents, no diaries, no confidential letters to Mark Hanna (or anyone else) contain his secret hopes or veiled stratagems."[84] From the beginning, McKinley's preparations had the participation of Hanna, whose biographer William T. Horner noted, "What is certainly true is that in 1888 the two men began to develop a close working relationship that helped put McKinley in the White House."[85] Sherman did not run for president again after 1888, and so Hanna could support McKinley's ambitions for that office wholeheartedly.[86]
Backed by Hanna's money and organizational skills, McKinley quietly built support for a presidential bid through 1895 and early 1896. 