He was challenged in the general election by State Surveyor General Maris Taylor, the Democratic nominee, and Henry A. Loucks, the President of the South Dakota Farmers' Alliance and the Independent Party nominee.

However, Tripp had declined to be a candidate several weeks prior, and State Surveyor General Maris Taylor was nominated by acclamation.

[1] Similarly, at the Republican convention in August, Governor Arthur C. Mellette received the gubernatorial nomination by acclamation.

[2] Separately, the South Dakota Farmers' Alliance held a convention in 1890 and delegates voted to form the Independent Party and to contest the state elections.

[3] When the delegates reconvened at their nominating convention in July, Henry L. Loucks, the President of the Alliance, who had been seen as the frontrunner for the Independent Party's nomination in June, faced a challenge from Abraham Lincoln Van Osdel,[3]: 78  a former territorial legislator.