During the campaign, Wilson underwent a political transformation from a symbol of conservative Wall Street reaction into one of the leading members of his party's progressive faction.

Since 1895 and the realignment of Northeastern politics under President William McKinley, New Jersey had been controlled by the Republican Party, which had won five consecutive gubernatorial elections after losing the previous ten.

[2] Though he declined to seek office, Wilson did write a "Credo" that year for possible use by the New York Sun, which denounced labor unionism and the closed shop, embraced "the right of freedom of contract" as the "most precious of all the possession of a free people," and declared opposition to the regulation of trusts by government commissions.

[3] In early 1910, Harvey and Smith, who by then had become the boss of the Essex County machine, met at Delmonico's and settled on Wilson as their preferred candidate for governor.

[4] Others viewed Wilson as a potential progressive based on his university reforms, where he had publicly opposed the influence of wealthy donors, particularly Moses Taylor Pyne, on education and research.

Wilson also began to position himself politically in anticipation of the general election campaign, attempting to shed his conservative reputation in order to attract progressive votes.

"[7] Wilson spent most of the summer attending to his university duties, while Harvey and Smith looked past 1910 toward a potential presidential campaign, setting up meetings with men of influence in national politics, including Henry Watterson, Roger Charles Sullivan, and Edward N.

[9] Wilson was initially received poorly by progressive elements in the state, especially the Jersey City "New Idea" men led by George L. Record, Mark M. Fagan, and Joseph Patrick Tumulty.

As part of an effort to keep Wilson in the machine's good graces, Harvey allowed him to personally write the party platform, which was warmly embraced by progressives and ratified to start proceedings.

[5] Wilson was introduced as "the next President of the United States" and his acceptance speech, which stressed his independence from the machine, won applause from the delegates.

He had a distaste for the barnstorming, back-slapping politics associated with Bryanism and initially proposed a campaign budget of $500; before its end, Smith alone would contribute over $50,000.

[13][18] In September, Wilson delivered opening speeches in Jersey City and Plainfield, which waffled between his prior support for Jeffersonian limited government and his new progressive stances.

[19][18] George L. Record, a well-known progressive columnist and Republican candidate for U.S. House, answered Wilson's open invitation to a public debate.

[19][18] Wilson answered in favor of every policy position and publicly pledged that his party's bosses would not control state government if he won election.