Dean Heller

Heller To Take Senate Oath, Replace Resigned Sen. Ensign

Jon Terbush | May 9, 2011, 1:16PM

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)

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.

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NV-02

Nevada Sec. of State Announces Wide-Open Special Election For Heller Seat

Eric Kleefeld | May 2, 2011, 3:36PM

Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)

Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller (D) has announced that the special election to replace Republican Rep. Dean Heller, who has been appointed to the Senate, will feature a single-round, potentially multi-candidate race in which anybody can file -- a development that could potentially hurt Republican efforts to hold on to the seat if they were to split their votes.

The initial expectation had been that party leaders would select nominees for the race, without a primary -- a scenario that would likely hurt the chances of unsuccessful 2010 Senate nominee Sharron Angle -- but that there was also the possibility of a wide-open race.

A similar election took place in Hawaii last year, in which Democrats split the vote between two candidates against one Republican in a normally very blue district. This helped to elect Republican candidate Charles Djou, who later narrowly lost re-election to a full term in November 2010, when he faced only a single Democrat.

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