The day after he lost a bid for a U.S. Senate seat, Lincoln writes to Congressman Elihu B. Washburne, of Galena, Illinois. At the time, the state legislature elected U.S. senators, and ultimately, it chose Lyman Trumbull. Lincoln attributes his loss to Governor Joel A. Matteson. Lincoln writes, "He has been secretly a candidate . . . I regret my defeat moderately, but I am not nervous about it. I could have headed off every combination and been elected, had it not been for Matteson's double game—and his defeat now gives me more pleasure than my own gives me pain." Abraham Lincoln to Elihu B. Washburne, 9 February 1855, CW, 2:304-6.