Incumbent Republican governor Alexander H. Rice was re-elected to a second term in office over former Minister to Great Britain Charles F. Adams.

[1] Former governor William Gaston, who had been the party nominee in the prior three elections, was considered an early favorite for a fourth nomination.

[2] However, a movement to draft Charles F. Adams, the former Minister to Great Britain during the Civil War, was brought about by New York associates of Governor Samuel Tilden, who had become the party's presidential nominee and national leader at the 1876 Democratic National Convention in June.

[2][3] He gave a long speech embracing Tilden, Adams, and Gaston and opposed to the Grant administration's policy of protective tariffs and failure to resume specie payments.

[5] During the campaign, U.S. senator James G. Blaine attacked Adams for his conduct during the War and his earlier proposal to preserve slavery by constitutional amendment.