Rep. Heller Likely to Get Ensign Seat

The Hill reports:

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) announced Thursday he will resign his seat effective May 3.

"It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years," he said in a statement. "The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada.  I can honestly say that being a United States senator has been the honor of my life."

The senator plans to send his resignation letter to Vice President Biden on Friday.

Ensign is under a Senate Ethics Committee investigation over claims he violated ethics rules in the aftermath of an affair with Cynthia Hampton, the wife of former top aide Doug Hampton, whom he helped obtain a lucrative lobbying job.

He cited the investigation in his statement.

"I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings.  For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great," he said.

The committee ramped up its investigation earlier this year, including hiring an outside counsel. The investigation would be dropped, however, if Ensign is no longer a member of the Senate.

The resignation announcement started speculation the committee was closing in the senator.

"First started hearing rumblings of Ensign resignation earlier this week. No other reason (outside of health) than ethics was moving ahead," Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston, who first reported the news, tweeted Thursday.

Ensign noted he was "hopeful" that the dismissal of other federal investigations would end the ethics investigation.

"I am gratified that, after extended investigations, both the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission saw no grounds on which to charge me with improper conduct. I was hopeful that, with the closure of these investigations against me the wear and tear on my family and me would soon be over. This was not the case," he said.

Reached Thursday night by phone, Ensign's lawyer, Robert Walker, who is representing him in regards to the ethics probe, declined to comment.

Democrat Harry Reid, Nevada's senior senator, said that Ensign had served the state well.

"He was a strong advocate for Nevada, and worked for many years to improve our state," Reid said in a statement.

"I know this is a difficult time for the family and I wish them all well as they work through it," he added.

Ensign said earlier this year he would run for reelection, but he was under heavy pressure from the party to step aside over concerns the fallout from his admitted affair would hurt their chances to retain his seat.

He announced in March he would not run for a third term.

Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) has already announced he's running for Ensign's seat, and it's possible Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval would appoint him as Ensign's replacement.

If he's appointed, it would give Heller an advantage over Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.), his likely general election competition.

Berkley was heavily recruited by Democrats to run and is considered the strongest competition to Heller. She quickly won the backing of Reid and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.