Sen. Hutchison Of Texas Won't Seek Re-Election

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), the Ranking Member on the Senate Commerce Committee, said she won't run for re-election in 2012.

She occupies the seat vacated by Sen. Lloyd Bentsen when he became President Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary. She won the seat in a 1993 special election after winning a sharply contested runoff election. More recently, the senator had wanted to be Texas governor and waited for fellow Republican Gov. Rick Perry to leave office. But he didn't. So last year she challenged him but lost in the Republican primary. She was hurt to an extent by what many voters viewed as her indecisiveness over keeping her Senate seat or not. Likely Republican contenders to succeed her include Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert , state Sen. Florence Shapiro of Plano , Railroad Commissioners Elizabeth Ames Jones and Michael Williams, Weatherford car dealer Roger Williams, and Ted Cruz, a former Texas solicitor general and candidate for state attorney general. Possible Democratic contenders include former Texas Comptroller John Sharp and former Houston mayor Bill White.