into the California State Legislature, and elected J. Neely Johnson as governor in the 1855 general elections. During the 1859 general elections, Lecompton Democrats voted Latham, who had briefly lived in the American South, as their nominee for governor. Anti-Lecomptons in turn selected John Currey as their nominee. The infant Republican Party, running in its first gubernatorial election, selected businessman Leland Stanford as its nominee. To make matters more complicated, during the campaign, Senator David C. Broderick, an Anti-Lecompton Democrat, was killed in a duel by slavery supporter and former state Supreme Court Justice David Terry on September 13. Despite the party split and Republican entrance to the campaign, Latham won the election, garnering sixty percent of the vote. Governor Latham was inaugurated on January 9, 1860. In his inauguration speech, the new governor outlined his main priority as solving the state's creeping debt, an issue that previously challenged former governors John Bigler, J. Neely Johnson and John Weller. Latham suggested curtailing legislative expenses, erecting more governmental buildings—such as completing the new State Capitol building—without raising taxes, and increasing U.S. Mail links from the Eastern United States to California to help facilitate commerce and personal links. Latham also suggested that the Office of the governor should not be made more powerful, and be securely checked by the legislature and courts. However, only hours into his term, Latham's desire for political advancement were quickly known. Within days, Latham had proposed to the Assembly and Senate to be selected as Henry P. Haun's replacement in the U.S. Senate and serve the rest of his term. (Prior to the Seventeenth Amendment, state legislatures selected federal senators.) Running against challenger Henry P. Haun, Latham was selected by the legislature, and on January 14, 1860, just five days into his governorship, Latham resigned. Latham had become the second California Governor to resign from office. Latham's five-day tenure as governor remains the shortest in California history. His record for the shortest tenure of any California constitutional officer held until Republican Sean Wallentine served three days – December 31, 2010 to January 3, 2011 – as an acting member of the California State Board of Equalization. Post governorship Latham travelled to Washington, D.C. to take his U.S. Senate seat later that year. Serving for the next three years as a Democrat, he ran for reelection once Broderick's original term expired in 1862. However, political support in California