Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act and its effective repeal of the Missouri Compromise had reawakened Lincoln’s passion for politics, and he threw himself into the congressional election campaign in the fall of 1854, crisscrossing Illinois to deliver speeches against the Kansas-Nebraska Act and in support of anti-Nebraska candidates. He even allowed himself to become a candidate for the Illinois General Assembly (albeit reluctantly at first). As the election campaign reached its climax, Lincoln’s name began to circulate as a possible nominee for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seats. Lincoln won election to the Illinois House of Representatives in the 1854 election, but declined the seat in late November in order to run for U.S. Senate.

The General Assembly met in a joint session on February 8, 1855, to make their selection for the U.S. Senate. In the first two rounds of voting, Turner, speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, cast his vote for Lincoln. Turner cast no votes in the third through the ninth rounds of balloting. After nine rounds of voting no candidate had achieved a majority of votes, and with his own share of votes declining Lincoln dropped out and urged his supporters to vote for anti-Nebraska Democrat Lyman Trumbull in order to ensure that an anti-Nebraska politician filled the seat. Turner rejoined the voting in the tenth and final round to cast his ballot for Trumbull, who won. See the 1854 Federal Election.