 Bugbee resigned from the party chairmanship to run for Governor of New Jersey in 1919.The paramount issue in that election year was Prohibition, since the Eighteenth Amendment had already been ratified but would not be enforced until the beginning of 1920.In the Republican primary Bugbee faced William Nelson Runyon, who had served as Acting Governor following Edge's election to the United States Senate, and Thomas L. Raymond, mayor of Newark.