McConnell Declines to Offer Support for Ensign's Re-election Campaign

Posted by Ben Armbruster, Think Progress at 5:01 AM on July 15, 2009.

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) told the Las Vegas Sun yesterday that, despite admitting an extramarital affair with a staffer and that his parents paid the woman and her family nearly $100,000 in hush money, he would not be resigning his seat and will be running for re-election in 2012. According to the Sun, Ensign said “his support is coming from his fellow senators as well as those ‘on both sides’ of Senate leadership.” However, it appears that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is not part of that group. Today during a press conference on Capitol Hill, he declined to offer his public support for Ensign:

QUESTION: Senator McConnell, Senator Ensign has said that he will remain in office (inaudible) reelection. Do you support him in (inaudible)?

MCCONNELL: Well, I think Senator Ensign will have to speak to those issues himself. And you can ask him about it.

Tagged as: sex, mcconnell, sex scandal, ensign, re-election

Benjamin J. Armbruster is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.