HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — Rep. Shelley Berkley ended her speech at a recent gathering of union members and retirees here by bringing up a potentially risky subject — her husband, Dr. Larry Lehrner.

Lehrner was supposed to be an albatross in the seven-term congresswoman’s attempt to replace Republican Dean Heller in the U.S. Senate, because his involvement in a kidney transplant program that Berkley pushed to save sparked a House Ethics Committee investigation of the congresswoman. But Berkley focused instead on health care, luck and love.