FOX has learned that eight-term Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) will announce his resignation today after it came to light that he was conducting an affair with a female staffer who worked in his district office.
Multiple senior House sources indicated that the extent of the affair would have landed Souder before the House Ethics Committee.
Elected as a family values conservative as part of the Republican revolution in 1994, Souder survived a tough re-election challenge in 2008 and survived a contested primary two weeks ago.
Once he’s quit Congress, it is up to Gov. Mitch Daniels, R, to call a special election, and there is no deadline for doing so. According to Indiana’s Secretary of State website:
There is no deadline specified by law for either the clerk’s certification to be filed or for the Governor’s writ to be issued. However, the combination of deadlines set by state law for nominating candidates and absentee ballot voting makes it mathematically impossible for a special election to occur earlier than 60 days after a vacancy occurs in the office of U.S. Representative
