Today’s announcement by Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson that she will retire at the end of this Congress seemed inevitable. When she announced in 2009 that she would primary incumbent Gov. Rick Perry, the conventional wisdom was that she would resign her seat, regardless of the outcome. She lost that race soundly, but decided to remain in the Senate because the party needed her vote and the prospect of a special election to replace her was something that neither party found especially appealing.
It’s also worth noting that while Hutchison certainly would have been favored to win re-election – or more accurately – Republicans would have been favored to hold the seat, Hutchison faced the prospect of a primary to her right. While Hutchison’s voting record hardly puts her at the Senate’s ideological 50-yard line, it is more moderate than conservatives in Texas believe it should be. So again, the prospect of a divisive primary, which she may have lost, and at the very least would have left her weakened going into a general election, makes Hutchison’s decision seem all
Subscribe Today
Our subscribers have first access to individual race pages for each House, Senate and Governors race, which will include race ratings (each race is rated on a seven-point scale) and a narrative analysis pertaining to that race.