(CNN) Sen. David Vitter's political career is coming to an end, in part because the eight-year-old scandal of allegedly hiring prostitutes is proving, finally, to be too much to overcome.

The Republican lost a deeply negative battle for the Louisiana governor's office Saturday to Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards.

As he conceded Saturday night after losing by 12 percentage points, Vitter announced he's retiring from the Senate when his term ends, rather than running for re-election in 2016.

"I have reached my personal term limit," he said.

Vitter told his supporters that while "I came up short -- you all were fabulous."

Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – CIA Director David Petraeus stepped down Friday, November 9, 2012, citing an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Many questions surround the affair, including why it was necessary for Petraeus to resign and the future of his marriage to his wife, Holly. Here's a look at other U.S. sexual scandals that led to political stumbles and downfalls. Hide Caption 1 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Former actor and California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made headlines in 2011 when his longtime wife, journalist Maria Shriver of the Kennedy clan, filed for divorce after learning Schwarzenegger had fathered a son with the couple's housekeeper. Schwarzenegger recently began talking publicly about the affair, released an autobiography and made a return to acting . He has said he hopes to win Shriver back Hide Caption 2 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Former president Bill Clinton's denial of his affair with then-intern Monica Lewinsky jeopardized his seat in the Oval Office. News of the affair surfaced in 1998, and Clinton became the second president to be impeached by the U.S. House when he was brought up on charges of lying to a grand jury and trying to influence the testimony of others but wasn't removed from office. He is still married to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Hide Caption 3 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Sen. David Vitter, R-Louisiana, issued an apology "for a very serious sin in my past" after his phone number showed up in the records of Pamela Martin and Associates, and escort service run by Deborah Jeane Palfrew, aka the "D.C. Madam" Vitter is still serving in the Senate and is still married. Hide Caption 4 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, caused a stir in Washington in 2011 when he was caught using social media to communicate with at least six women other than his wife, Huma Abedin. Weiner left office in his seventh term in Congress. Shortly after his resignation, news broke the Abedin was pregnant with their first child. Today, the couple is still married, and Weiner is a stay-at-home dad to their son. Weiner rejoined Twitter earlier this month. Hide Caption 5 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick apologized to his wife and the city after romantic messages, reported by the Detroit Free Press, indicated the Democrat was having an affair with his chief of staff. The chief of staff, Christine Beatty, resigned, but Kilpatrick, said he would not. In testimony last August, both Beatty and Kilpatrick had denied having a romantic relationship. Kilpatrick later resigned. He is serving a prison sentence of up to five years for violating probation in a 2008 case against him. That case involved two state felony counts of obstruction of justice stemming from his efforts to cover up the extramarital affair. Hide Caption 6 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential hopeful, saw his political career spin off track when he finally admitted in 2008 that he was unfaithful to his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth Edwards. Edwards at first denied the affair but ultimately came clean about fathering a child with his campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter. Prosecutors accused Edwards of illegally using hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to keep his pregnant mistress under wraps, but he was granted a mistrial on May 31, 2012. Elizabeth Edwards died in 2010. Hide Caption 7 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Former Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, agreed to step down temporarily as the leading Republican on Senate committees after details came out about his 2007 arrest in an airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Picked up during a police sting targeting lewd behavior in the airport's restrooms Craig pleased guilty to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in August 2007. No sexual contact is alleged to have taken place but the officer who arrested the senator said Craig moved his foot to touch the officer's foot in another stall. Craig, who is married, said he did not make any "inappropriate contact." He called his guilty plea a "poor decision" and denied being gay. Hide Caption 8 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Florida, resigned in September 2006 after he was accused of sending sexually explicit instant messages and e-mails to congressional pages. Florida authorities opened an investigation, as did the FBI. Foley later checked into a treatment facility for alcoholism. Hide Caption 9 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Weeks after separating from his wife, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa acknowledged he had been having an affair with a local television reporter. "It is true that I have a relationship with Ms. Mirthala Salinas," the Democrat said in a statement published in the Los Angeles Daily News. "As I've said I take full responsibility for my actions, and I once again ask that people respect my family's privacy. For my part, I intent to stay focused on my job and to work as hard as I can every day to be the best mayor I can be." Villaraigosa and his wife divorced in 2010 . He is still mayor. Hide Caption 10 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Days before the House voted to impeach President Clinton, Rep. Bob Livingston, R-Louisiana, admitted to cheating on his wife. On the day of the impeachment vote, Livingston, a Republican who was to succeed Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House, announced he would resign from Congress in six months. He urged Clinton to do the same. "I must set the example that I hope President Clinton will follow," he said. Hide Caption 11 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – When then-South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford went MIA for nearly a week in June of 2009, his staff told the public he was out hiking the Appalachian Trail. But when the Republican was spotted at Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, he decided to come clean about the mysterious hiking trip and quite a bit more. Sanford admitted he was not hiking, but visiting his Argentinian mistress in Buenos Aires. Though his wife, Jenny, said she was open to reconciliation, Sanford was head-over-heels for paramour Maria Belen Chapur. The Sanfords divorced. He became engaged to Belen Chapur in August. Hide Caption 12 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – Eliot Spitzer earned a squeaky clean image as the attorney general of New York who took on Wall Street corruption from 1999 to 2006. From there, he moved to the governor's mansion in Albany in 2007. But the Democrat was stopped in his political tracks when his liaisons with high-paid prostitute Ashley Dupre surfaced, and he stepped down as governor in March 2008. He briefly went on to anchor and now hosts "Viewpoint'" on Current TV. He is still married to Silda Wall Spitzer. Hide Caption 13 of 14 Photos: Photos: Public figures, private missteps Public figures, private missteps – In 2009, then Sen. John Ensign, R-Nevada, admitted having an affair with Cindy Hampton, a campaign aide and the wife of his former chief of staff, Doug Hampton. Investigators examined the former senator's efforts to assist the Hampton family by providing a payment of nearly $100,000, arranging lobbying work for Doug Hampton and possibly meeting with him on a lobbying matter in violation of Senate rules. Hampton was sentenced to a year of probation for violating lobbying laws. Ensign never faced charges. Hide Caption 14 of 14

"I've lost one political campaign in my life, tonight. And ironically, it's the campaign and the political effort I am most proud of," Vitter said.

Edwards will succeed Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and becomes the first Democratic governor to win election in the Deep South in 12 years -- countering the prevailing narrative in recent years that Democrats have lost the ability to win in that portion of the country.

"This election shows us that the people of Louisiana in a time of deep cynicism about our politics, and also about our future, that the people have chosen hope over scorn, over negativity," Edwards said in a victory speech Saturday night.

The Democrat also thanked his supporters in a tweet.

We won because of you. Thank you for voting to #PutLouisianaFirst! Thank you for the opportunity to lead our state. #lagov — John Bel Edwards (@JohnBelforLA) November 22, 2015

Vitter had been dogged from the start of his gubernatorial bid about his purported history with hookers. In the summer of 2007, he apologized for committing "a serious sin" after his phone number appeared on the client list of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, known as the "D.C. Madam. " Democrats tried to make it an issue in Vitter's 2010 re-election bid . But in a heavily Republican year, he skated to victory.

Running for state office, though, the charges stuck. A state trial lawyers' group ran an independent spot prior to the October 24 all-party "jungle primary" hitting Vitter for the alleged past solicitation.

Vitter limped into the runoff, finishing a distant second behind Edwards. A defeated Republican rival, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, endorsed Democratic candidate Edwards. Another vanquished GOP foe, Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, stayed neutral.

The Edwards campaign hammered on the prostitution allegations relentlessly, capped by one of the hardest-hitting spots in recent political history. Going back to Vitter's House days, in 2001, the Edwards television ad argued the Republican "answered a prostitute's call minutes after he skipped a vote honoring 28 soldiers who gave their lives in defense of our freedom," thereby choosing "prostitutes over patriots."

Vitter's campaign tried to change the subject by seizing on controversy over whether Syrian refuges should be allowed into the United States, in the wake of the Paris massacre . Edwards' position, opposing resettlement on American soil, was virtually indistinguishable from Vitter's, though he didn't dwell on it while campaigning.

Vitter's defeat is a harsh blow in a once-promising political career. The Harvard grad and Rhodes Scholar had been seen as a rising Republican political force before the scandal broke. Vitter could seek re-election to the Senate in 2016, though Republican colleagues are hardly enthusiastic about that scenario, concerned his unpopularity could throw the seat to a Democratic opponent.

Edwards brings a varied background to the governor's office. A 1988 West Point graduate, Edwards served as an Army Ranger, among other duties, during an eight-year military career. After earning a law degree at Louisiana State University and working as an attorney, Edwards won election to the state House in 2008.

Once Edwards takes office in January, there will be 31 Republican governors, 18 Democrats and one independent.

The Vitter defeat will have ripple effects in Louisiana politics. Two Republican House members, Charles Boustany and John Fleming, had openly angled for appointment to the Senate by Vitter, had he won. So has state Treasurer John Kennedy. Now each pol will have to stay in his current job.

Republicans said they will keep control of the Legislature.

"Despite a disappointing result in the gubernatorial race, we're confident that our Republican Legislature and activists across the state will hold governor-elect Edwards accountable to his campaign promises of not raising taxes, protecting school choice and defending our conservative family values," said Roger Villere, chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana.