In 1854 Colfax ran for Congress again ; the Whig Party was on the verge of collapse .
Colfax won election as a candidate of the short - lived Indiana People 's Party , an anti-slavery movement which formed to oppose the Kansas -- Nebraska Act .
In 1854 Colfax ran for Congress again ; the Whig Party was on the verge of collapse , and Colfax won election as a candidate of the short - lived Indiana People 's Party , an anti-slavery movement which formed to oppose the Kansas -- Nebraska Act .