[65][66]  He ended his ranching life and returned to New York, where he escaped the damaging label of an ineffectual intellectual.[67]

Second marriage
On December 2, 1886, Roosevelt married his childhood friend, Edith Kermit Carow.[68] Roosevelt felt deeply troubled that his second marriage had taken place very quickly after the death of his first wife and he also faced resistance from his sisters.[69] Nonetheless, the couple married at St George's, Hanover Square, in London, England.[70] The couple had five children: Theodore "Ted" III in 1887, Kermit in 1889, Ethel in 1891, Archibald in 1894, and Quentin in 1897. They also raised Roosevelt's daughter from his first marriage,  Alice, who often clashed with her stepmother.[71]

Reentering public life
Upon Roosevelt's return to New York in 1886, Republican leaders quickly approached him about running for mayor of New York City in the  1886 election.[72]  Roosevelt accepted the nomination despite having little hope of winning the race against United Labor Party candidate Henry George and Democratic candidate Abram Hewitt.  Roosevelt campaigned hard for the position, but Hewitt won with 41% (90,552 votes), taking the votes of many Republicans who feared George's radical policies.