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 round of voting, Lincoln received forty-five of the ninety-nine votes cast, but as no candidate received a majority of votes, several more rounds of balloting ensued. After the ninth vote, with his share of votes declining, Lincoln dropped out of contention and urged his remaining supporters to vote for anti-Nebraska Democrat Lyman Trumbull to ensure that an anti-Nebraska candidate would be elected. Trumbull won a majority of votes in the tenth round and became Illinois’ next U.S. Senator. Archibald Williams was nominated in the Senate election, but only received a handful of votes. Randolph was correct that Lincoln faced no serious opponent in the Senate race from west of the Illinois River. Aside from Lincoln, the candidates who received significant numbers of votes were James Shields of Belleville, Joel A. Matteson of Will County, and the ultimate victor, Trumbull, of Madison County. See the 1854 Federal Election.