JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., has married longtime aide Kay Webber.

In a statement released Monday, Cochran's office said the marriage took place privately Saturday in Gulfport. Spokesman Chris Gallegos says Webber, Cochran's executive assistant, has worked for him since 1981.

The 77-year-old senator's former wife, Rose Cochran, died in December at age 73 from dementia after living in a nursing home for 13 years.

An aspiring political blogger took pictures of a bedridden Rose Cochran in April 2014, intending to use the images to advance allegations that the senator was having an inappropriate relationship with Webber. Cochran's aides said then that there was nothing improper about the senator's relationship with Webber.

Clayton Kelly of Pearl still faces charges over the photograph. Charges against three other men have been resolved.