[4] After losing to John G. Downey in the first election and Leland Stanford in the second, Conness was chosen by the legislature to fill the full term of U.S.

A Douglas Democrat who later became a Union Republican while serving in the Senate, Conness earned President Abraham Lincoln's respect.

[5] Lincoln once said of Conness that he "is habitually careful not to say what he does not know," and described him on another occasion as "one of our United States Senators, of high standing, whom I cheerfully endorse."

Conness was colleagues with Senators William M. Stewart of Nevada and Charles Sumner of Massachusetts the night Lincoln died.

Conness declared that 'this is a conspiracy to murder the entire cabinet' and directed soldiers to go protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

[6] At the beginning of Reconstruction, Conness alienated some of his California constituents by advocating strongly for Chinese immigration and civil rights.