Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I te marama o Hune, i whiriwhiria a Hughes e te Rūnanga ā-Motu o te Rōpū Reipa i te tau 1916 hei whakataurite i waenganui i ngā parirau o mua me te ahu whakamua o te rōpū. I hinga a Hughes i a John W. Weeks, Elihu Root, me etahi atu kaitono i te pooti tuatoru o te huihuinga. Ahakoa i wehewehea nga Republican totika me te ahu whakamua i te pooti o te tau 1912 i waenga i nga kaitono o te Perehitini o William Howard Taft me te Perehitini o mua a Theodore Roosevelt, i tino whakakotahi ratou ki a Hughes i tana tono ki te peia a Wilson., Ko Hughes anake te kaiwhakawa o te Kooti Nui o mua, o mua ranei hei kaitono perehitini mo te roopu nui. I whakaingoatia anōtia a Wilson ki te
1916 Democratic National Convention i etahi ra i muri mai, kaore he whakahe. Ahakoa i whakaingoatia ano te Perehitini Tuarua o Wilson a Thomas R. Marshall, ko te hoa whakahaere a Hughes ko Charles W. Fairbanks, ko ia te perehitini tuarua o Theodore Roosevelt i tana wa tuarua.