Early Political Career
Tod was a candidate for Ohio's governorship as a Democrat in 1844 and 1846, running on a strongly anti-national bank platform, but lost both elections. He was appointed by President James K. Polk as minister (ambassador) to Brazil from 1847 to 1851. He presided over the 1860 Democratic National Convention in Baltimore after the resignation of Caleb Cushing as convention president.
Although previously a strong Democrat, Tod joined the pro-Union alliance between the Republican Party and Ohio's War Democrats at the outset of the Civil War. On September 5, 1861, Republicans and War Democrats met in Columbus, Ohio, to form the National Union Party. The newly established party promptly abandoned the state's beleaguered Republican governor, William Dennison, and threw its support behind Tod – a move designed to strengthen solidarity between War Democrats and Republicans.
Meanwhile, the War Democrats nominated Hugh J. Jewett, who called for reconciliation with the South but "stopped short of taking a strong antiwar stance". Tod won the election, polling 206,997 votes to Jewett's 151,774—a result that indicated the National Union Party had made few inroads among Democratic voters. Tod ultimately served one term as governor, leading the state from 1862 to 1864.
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