On April 25, 1991, Robb preempted NBC's plans to break a sex scandal story by publicly admitting that he had spent time with former Miss Virginia Tai Collins alone in a hotel room. Robb claimed that the two had merely shared a bottle of wine and a massage. However, Collins later told Playboy magazine that the two had been having an affair since 1983.
Despite the sex scandal, Robb narrowly defeated former Iran-Contra figure Oliver North in a 1994 reelection bid after popular RepublicanSenatorJohn Warner refused to support his fellow Republican and instead backed third-party candidate J. Marshall Coleman. After two terms in the Senate, he was defeated in the 2000 election by his Republican opponent, George Allen, who was also a former governor. Robb was the only Democratic incumbent senator to be defeated in that election. After losing to Allen, Robb began teaching at George Mason University law school.
Robb's wife, Lynda Robb, also known as Lynda Bird Johnson, is the daughter of former U.S. President, and fellow southern Democrat, Lyndon B. Johnson.
In addition, Robb was dogged by allegations of being present at parties where cocaine was used and listening to illegally-recorded cell phone conversations of Virginia Governor (and possible Senate primary opponent) Doug Wilder.
On February 6, 2004, Robb was appointed co-chair of the Iraq Intelligence Commission, an independent panel tasked with investigating U.S. intelligence surrounding the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq and Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.