WASHINGTON — Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Republican who was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas and has held the seat for nearly two decades, announced Thursday she will retire next year when her current term ends.
In a letter to her Texas constituents, the state’s senior senator said she had intended to leave office sooner but was persuaded to stay on to “avoid disadvantage to our state.”
“The last two years have been particularly difficult, especially for my family, but I felt it would be wrong to leave the Senate during such a critical period,” Hutchison said. “Instead of putting my seat into a special election, I felt it was my duty to use my experience to fight the massive spending that has increased our national debt; the government takeover of the our health care system; and the growth of the federal bureaucracy, which threatens our economy.”
Hutchison, 67, said she would “continue that fight” until the end of her term. She is the first senator to announce her retirement ahead of the 2012 elections.
Her decision closes one of the more remarkable and eventful political careers in a state full of them. It is also likely to prompt a bruising race to replace her.
First elected to the Senate in 1993, Hutchison won a special election replace Lloyd Bent sen, who left his seat to serve as President Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary. She was elected to a full term in 1994 and comfortably won re-election in 2000 and 2006.
Hutchison’s career in Texas politics stretches back more than 30 years, beginning when she was elected as a state representative in 1972. It was while serving in the Texas statehouse that she met her husband, Ray Hutchison.
Growing up in La Marque, Texas, she had hoped for a legal career. After being turned down by large law firms because of her gender, she shifted first to journalism and then to banking before building a successful career in politics.
