The 1912 US presidential election saw Republican incumbent William Taft challenged by former president Theodore Roosevelt who formed the Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party after losing the Republican nomination to Taft. The Socialist Party candidate was Eugene Debs. Woodrow Wilson ran as the Democratic candidate advocating progressive policies like antitrust enforcement and tariff reform. The split in the Republican party between Taft and Roosevelt allowed Wilson to win the election, ushering in a new period of progressive reform and realigning the party system for the rest of the century.