Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman on Wednesday named a former state senator as successor to ex-Lieutenant Governor Rick Sheehy, who resigned in scandal earlier this month. The governor chose Lavon Heidemann to replace Sheehy.

Heidemann is a farmer from Elk Creek, in southeast Nebraska. He served as state senator from 2005 to 2013. Heidemann was recently named a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents.

Sheehy had served as lieutenant governor under Heineman starting in 2005 and had been seen as a leading candidate to succeed him as governor next year. That ambition came crumbling down after the Omaha Herald newspaper reported on thousands of cell phone calls Sheehy made to women other than his wife.

Heidemann said he would not run for governor in 2014.