[35] After the assassination of McKinley in September, the appetite for politics was temporarily lost in Ohio, but that November Harding won a second term, more than doubling his margin of victory to 3,563 votes.[36]
As was then customary for politicians, Harding accepted patronage and graft as repayment for political favors. He arranged for his sister Mary (who was legally blind) to be appointed as a teacher at the Ohio School for the Blind, although there were better-qualified candidates. He also offered publicity in his newspaper in exchange for free railroad passes for himself and his family. According to Sinclair, "it is doubtful that Harding ever thought there was anything dishonest in accepting the perquisites of position or office. Patronage and favors seemed the normal reward for party service in the days of Hanna."[37]
Soon after Harding's initial election as senator, he met Harry M. Daugherty, who assumed a major role in his political career. Daugherty was a perennial candidate for office, who served two terms in the state House of Representatives in the early 1890s, and became a political fixer and lobbyist in Columbus, the state capital. 