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John Ensign Biography

U.S. Senator / Veterinarian

Republican John Ensign is the U.S. senator from Nevada who went from being known as an up-and-coming party leader during his first term to a scandal-plagued adulterer halfway through his second term. Ensign was a veterinarian in Las Vegas before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994. In Washington he lived in what's been called the "C Street House," an apartment building of politically involved Christians, and in congress he championed socially conservative causes as well as western interests. Ensign was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000 and re-elected in 2006, and by 2008 he was a policy and campaign leader for the Republican party. He announced on 16 June 2009 that he'd had a sexual affair with Cynthia Hampton, a member of his campaign staff and the wife of Doug Hampton, one of Ensign's top aides (Ensign is also married, with three children). It was revealed in July that Ensign's parents gave Mrs. Hampton nearly $100,000 in 2008, and in October it was reported that Ensign was under investigation for possible ethics violations for trying to get Doug Hampton a job. Although Ensign resigned from leadership posts within the party, he refused to resign from office.

Extra credit: The news of Ensign's affair was briefly overshadowed by the news of another Republican's adultery a week later, that of Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina... Ensign explained at the time of his admission that he was coming forward because Doug Hampton had tried to blackmail him, a reference to a letter sent by Hampton to Fox News on 11 June 2009 (but not made public until 19 June).