Hearst was appointed as a United States senator in 1886 to fill a vacancy and was elected as a Democrat later that year on his own account.

His only child from his late marriage (at age 42) was his son William Randolph Hearst, who became internationally known as a newspaperman and publisher, and was a primary inspiration for Orson Welles's 1941 film Citizen Kane.

[3] Hearst, one of three children – two boys and a girl – was raised in a log cabin on his family's farm in rural Franklin County.

[4][5] When his father died in 1846, Hearst at the age of 26 took over the support of his family: his mother, brother, and sister.

After spending a cold winter and making meager findings, they moved to Grass Valley in 1851 on the news of a new lode.

[8][9][10] After almost ten years, Hearst was making a decent living as a prospector, and otherwise engaged in running a general store,[11] mining, raising livestock and farming in Nevada County.

Hearst hurried to the Washoe district of western Utah Territory, where he arranged to buy a one-sixth interest in the Ophir Mine there, near present-day Virginia City.

That winter, Hearst and his partners mined 38 tons of high-grade silver ore, packed it across the Sierra on muleback, had it smelted in San Francisco, and made $91,000 profit (or roughly $3,300,000 in 2023 dollars).

In the summer of 1872, Daly suggested the potential of the Ontario silver mine in Park City, Utah.

Hearst acquired the reputation of being the most expert prospector and judge of mining property on the Pacific coast.

George Hearst acquired the San Francisco Examiner newspaper as a sign of loyalty to his friends by accepting it as payment for a gambling debt owed to him.

[16] His son William Randolph Hearst insisted on taking control of this holding of his father.

However, when the railroad's leadership backed the other Democratic nominee in the primary, Hearst joined Christopher Augustine Buckley and Stephen M. White in developing the Anti-Monopoly Coalition.

The next year, Hearst was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of John F. Miller, and served from March 23, 1886, to August 4, 1886, when Abram Williams was elected.

As a Senator, Hearst focused on reducing Central Pacific's power in American commerce.