Cleveland , the first Democratic president since the American Civil War , was unanimously re-nominated at the 1888 Democratic National Convention . He was the first incumbent president to win re-nomination since Grant was nominated to a second term in 1872 . Harrison , the grandson of former President William Henry Harrison , emerged as the Republican nominee on the eighth ballot of the 1888 Republican National Convention . He defeated other prominent party leaders such as Senator John Sherman and former Governor Russell Alger
1888 Democratic National Convention
1888 Democratic National Convention
1888 United States presidential election