The 1898 Texas gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Texas. Joseph D. Sayers was elected over Barnett Gibbs, a Populist running with Republican support.
Lafayette L. Foster was the chairman of the Sayers Central Campaign Committee. In the summer of 1898, he was appointed as the president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas by the board of directors of the college. He was succeeded as chairman by Edward M. House.
Gibbs, a moderate Populist, primarily campaigned on the issue of building a state-owned "relief railroad" from the Red River to the Gulf of Mexico.