The U.S. Senate will return to full strength on Monday when Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) is sworn in to replace Sen. John Ensign, who resigned last week after the fallout from a sex scandal and resulting ethics investigations continued to cloud his tenure.
After polls showed his popularity plummeting and the odds of retaining his seat next year dwindling, Ensign announced early this year that he would not seek reelection in 2012. Then in late April, as his political standing worsened and as a Senate ethics investigation dragged on, Ensign decided to end his term even sooner, saying he would resign on May 3.
Ensign’s troubles date back to 2009, when it was revealed that he’d had an affair with a top aide’s wife, and then paid his mistress’ family $96,000, allegedly to keep the whole thing under wraps. Both the Department of Justice and Federal Elections Commission investigated the incident, though they eventually dropped those probes. A Senate investigation was still underway when Ensign announced his resignation.
Heller, who had already said that he would seek Ensign’s seat before the embattled Senator decided to leave office early, was appointed by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval (R) to serve the remainder of Ensign’s term. By leaving the House for the Senate, Heller opened up a free-for-all special election to fill his old seat.
