diff --git a/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/connection.py b/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/connection.py
index cfad90f4..c55ce227 100644
--- a/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/connection.py
+++ b/ovsdbapp/backend/ovs_idl/connection.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class Connection(object):
             self.poller = poller.Poller()
             self.is_running = True
             self.thread = threading.Thread(target=self.run)
-            self.thread.setDaemon(True)
+            self.thread.daemon = True
             self.thread.start()
 
     def run(self):
diff --git a/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/backend/ovs_idl/test_connection.py b/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/backend/ovs_idl/test_connection.py
index a6291426..f0c445a3 100644
--- a/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/backend/ovs_idl/test_connection.py
+++ b/ovsdbapp/tests/unit/backend/ovs_idl/test_connection.py
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ class TestOVSNativeConnection(base.TestCase):
         mock_wait_for_change.assert_any_call(self.conn.idl, self.conn.timeout)
         mock_poller.assert_called_once_with()
         mock_thread.assert_called_once_with(target=self.conn.run)
-        mock_thread.return_value.setDaemon.assert_called_once_with(True)
+        self.assertIs(True, mock_thread.return_value.daemon)
         mock_thread.return_value.start.assert_called_once_with()
 
     def test_queue_txn(self, mock_thread):