Ritchie resigned on February 16, 1913, to return to his law practice, where he took up a case against a local utility company for producing inferior quality gas.

Harry Whinna Nice, the Republican nominee was a close friend and favorite of a notorious and powerful Democratic party boss in Baltimore, John S. "Frank" Kelly.

Harry Nice was a frequent caller to "Frank" Kelly's headquarters on West Saratoga Street in Baltimore while attending law school.

The warm relationship Nice developed with "Boss" Kelly, as he was also known, worked to his advantage and landed him a considerably high appointment following law school, assistant to the state's attorney in Baltimore.

Convinced and initially backed by Kelly, Nice resigned as assistant state's attorney and cast his hat into the gubernatorial race.

Ritchie proved one of the last strong upholders of states' rights, gaining national prominence in 1922 with his stand against President Harding during the Western Maryland coal strike, and his strenuous opposition to the Volstead Act (prohibition).

His legislative program was in three main areas: state government reorganization, increased representation for Baltimore, and reduction in the number of elections.

The first governor of Maryland reelected since the Civil War, Ritchie loomed as a serious contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1924 until the compromise on John W. Davis.

Ritchie worked hard for the ticket, and at home achieved reforms in mental health, shellfish conservation, and law enforcement while continuing to fight federal encroachments on state prerogatives.

In a campaign which focused on his accomplishments as governor and defiance of the Eighteenth Amendment, Ritchie easily defeated Armstrong by a plurality of 43,000 votes.

Ritchie had announced early on his intentions to seek a third term as governor, but, unlike in 1919 and 1923, he faced opposition in the primary elections of 1926.

Ritchie also pursued one of the earliest programs of conservation of the Chesapeake Bay, enacting strict game and fishing legislation.

A corruption scandal emerged towards the end of Ritchie's third term involving employees of the State Roads Commission who were accused of embezzling $376,000.

Governor Ritchie was a stalwart opponent of federal intervention in local affairs, and continued to urge programs sponsored by the business community itself.

[6] Ritchie had established a national reputation during the convention of 1924 and was admired by the conservative wing of the Democratic party as a "wet" (in favor of repealing Prohibition) who appealed to the urban vote.

Ritchie and several others including Governor George Dern were considered for the vice presidential nomination, which ultimately went to John Nance Garner.

[8] Ritchie's popularity as governor reached its peak during the early years of his fourth term, but gradually began to wane because of growing jealousy within the party as a result of his long tenure as governor, and because of two lynchings that had occurred on the Eastern Shore of Maryland (those of Matthew Williams in Salisbury in 1931,[9] and George Armwood in Princess Anne in 1933).

[10] Although Ritchie's model, business-like government had thoroughly modernized Maryland, he had forged a Democratic party organization which his opponents attacked as a "machine".

While a Ritchie victory was widely predicted, when Nice took all but three counties the postmortems agreed that the governor's longevity "and the cry of 'too long'" was the fundamental explanation, but the opposition of Baltimore blacks and labor also seemed significant.

[11] Throughout his 15 years as governor, Ritchie called the legislature into special session several times, including once in 1920 to vote on women's suffrage in Maryland, and again in 1933 to ratify the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933.