Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., will be Nevada’s new senator, announces the state’s Gov. Brian Sandoval, R. Heller will be appointed to replace the scandal-scarred Republican John Ensign, who is resigning over an adultery scandal.
Heller was first elected in 2006 to replace former Rep. Jim Gibbons, R, who went on to become a deeply unpopular governor. Heller won the Republican primary that year over two other candidates. One was Sharron Angle. Another was Gibbons’ then-wife Dawn, a state legislator who had voted to raise taxes and who now has her own radio show in Las Vegas.
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Although most conservatives were pulling for Angle at the time (she hadn’t acquired her current reputation yet), Heller was something of a pleasant surprise. He joined the Republican Study Committee in the House and now boasts an 89 percent rating on the American Conservative Union’s hundred-point scale. He voted against TARP. He is also the lead sponsor of the House bill to repeal the Spanish-American War Tax (on telephones).
