 On October 13, 2008, "ABC News" reported that Mahoney had agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him.Because Mahoney won this seat in 2006 after a sex scandal forced the incumbent to resign, several considered it ironic that a sex scandal of his own coming to light a month before the election, especially since he first campaigned against such corruption.Some professional political pundits, such as Charlie Cook, reclassified the race as "Leans Republican."