AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison conceded the Republican nomination for Texas governor to Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday night following a heated, multimillion-dollar fight between the party heavyweights.
Hutchison told supporters in Dallas that she called Perry once she believed the election results were clear.
“We have fought valiantly for our principles, but we did not win,” she said.
Perry, Texas’ longest-serving governor, had 51 percent of the vote compared with Hutchison’s 30 percent, with nearly 90 percent of the precincts reporting. Party activist Debra Medina, a favorite among many Tea Party voters, had about 18 percent.
Perry, who is seeking a third full term in office, spent months battering Hutchison with an anti-Washington message and accused her of being part of a big-spending crowd in the nation’s capital.
Hutchison countered by saying Perry was trying to stay in office too long and had allowed arrogance and cronyism to creep into state government.
All three candidates cast themselves as the true conservative.
But the contest shaped up to become a bout between Perry and Hutchison in a clash unlike any GOP primary the state has seen since Republicans began taking over state government in the 1990s with the help of George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, former Houston Mayor Bill White defeated Houston hair-care magnate Farouk Shami and five others to win the Democratic nomination.
Perry, a darling of the social conservatives who reliably show up for Texas Republican primaries, forcefully pushed the anti-Washington theme that Hutchison acknowledged worked against her in the current political environment.
Medina appeared to be building steam in January and part of February, but she may have suffered a setback when, in response to a question from talk- show host Glenn Beck, she said there were “some very good arguments” that the U.S. government was involved in the 2001 terrorist attacks.
