He was renominated handily for the 1894 campaign , when he ran against the Populist Sidney Owen and Democrat George Becker . He projected the image of a systematic and scientific reformer compared to such populist speakers as Mary Ellen Lease and Jerry Simpson . He demonstrated hands-on leadership in the dry summer of 1894 , when the Great Hinckley Fire spread across east-central Minnesota on September 1 . Although the state did not have the financial means to provide direct support , Nelson used his office to encourage private relief efforts . He won the election with 60,000 votes more than Owen . Nelson 's campaign for election to the United States Senate was reported to have begun early in 1894 . It was conducted quietly and behind the scenes , to avoid the appearance that his bid for governorship was less than genuine , and also to avoid an internal Republican feud with the incumbent US senator William D. Washburn . Before the 17th Amendment went into effect in 1914 , U.S. senators were elected by their state legislatures . Nelson 's campaign for Minnesota 's second Senate seat was a " still hunt , " consisting of building support among incoming legislators while letting Washburn think that he was running unopposed for the Republican nomination
Great Hinckley Fire
Great Hinckley Fire
Knute Nelson