diff --git a/elastalert/elastalert.py b/elastalert/elastalert.py
index b078c86db..310f6af4f 100755
--- a/elastalert/elastalert.py
+++ b/elastalert/elastalert.py
@@ -743,7 +743,7 @@ def set_starttime(self, rule, endtime):
                 # Query from the end of the last run, if it exists, otherwise a run_every sized window
                 rule['starttime'] = rule.get('previous_endtime', endtime - self.run_every)
             else:
-                rule['starttime'] = rule.get('previous_endtime', endtime - rule['timeframe'])
+                rule['starttime'] = endtime - rule['timeframe']
 
     def adjust_start_time_for_overlapping_agg_query(self, rule):
         if rule.get('aggregation_query_element'):