Kay Bailey Hutchison

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Hutchison was elected Texas State Treasurer in 1990 and served until June 1993 when she ran against Senator Bob Krueger in a special election to complete the last two years of Lloyd Bentsen's term. Bentsen had resigned in January 1993 to become Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration. Krueger had been appointed by Texas Governor Ann Richards to fill the seat until a replacement was elected.

A field of 24 candidates sought to fill Bentsen's unexpired term in the May 1993 special election.[9] The top two vote-getters were Hutchison (593,338, or 29 percent) and Krueger (593,239, also 29 percent).

During the campaign Krueger charged that Hutchison was a "country club Republican" and insensitive to the feelings of minorities.[10] In January, the Houston Chronicle reported that both Hutchison and Fields had promised to serve a maximum of two six-year terms in the Senate as part of her support for term-limit legislation for members of Congress. In April, the Dallas Morning News reported that Hutchison had repeated her pledge to serve only two terms in the U.S. Senate, if elected, and had also said term limits ought to cover all senators, including Senator Phil Gramm (Republican), who had been elected in 1984 and re-elected in 1990. (He would stay in the Senate until 2002.) The term-limits legislation never passed, and Hutchison said that she would not leave the Senate in the absence of such legislation, because doing so unilaterally would hurt Texas at the expense of other states in the seniority-driven institution.

After the initial voting, most of the Barton and Fields voters switched to Hutchison, who won the run-off, 1,188,716 (67.3 percent) to 576,538 (32.7 percent). Lower turnout in the run-off resulted in a decrease in Krueger's vote total, by 17,000. Hutchison became the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.[9]

Following Hutchison's election in 1993, Texas had two sitting Republican U.S. senators for the first time since Reconstruction, something that would remain through the end of Hutchison's tenure in the Senate.

On June 10, 1993, Travis County authorities, led by Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle, raided Hutchison's offices at the State Treasury.[11] The search was conducted without a warrant, as incident to service of the indictments in the case.[12] In September 1993, Hutchison was indicted by a Texas grand jury for official misconduct and records tampering.[11] Hutchison stated that she was the innocent victim of a politically motivated prosecutor.[12] Earle denied that his legal actions against Hutchison were politically motivated.[13] The case against Hutchison was heard before State District Judge John Onion in February 1994.[12] During pre-trial proceedings, the judge did not rule on the admissibility of evidence obtained on June 10.[12] Following the lack of a ruling, Earle declined to proceed with his case.[12] Onion swore in a jury and directed the jury to acquit Hutchison, since Earle chose not to present evidence.[12] The acquittal barred any future prosecution of Hutchison for the same alleged crime.[12]

Running in 1994 for election to her first full term, Hutchison received 2,604,281 votes (60.8 percent) to 1,639,615 votes (38.3 percent) cast for Democrat Richard W. Fisher, the son-in-law of the late Republican Congressman James M. Collins, who had also run in the 1993 special election.

In 2000 she defeated Democrat Gene Kelly, with 4,082,091 (65 percent) to 2,030,315 (32.2 percent). She carried 237 of the 254 counties, including one of the most Democratic counties, Webb County (Laredo).

Speculation began in 2004 that Hutchison would run for Governor of Texas in 2006, challenging incumbent Governor Rick Perry in the Republican primary. However, on June 17, 2005, Hutchison announced that she would seek re-election to the Senate instead, reneging on an earlier promise to a two-term limit. Many political analysts speculated that she did not believe she could defeat Perry in the GOP primary because of his popularity among Christian conservatives, while her Senate seat was unlikely to face a serious threat.

Hutchison's Democratic opponent in the November 2006 general election was former Houston attorney and mediator Barbara Ann Radnofsky (born July 8, 1956), who had not previously run for public office. Radnofsky received 44 percent of the vote in the primary, and won a run-off election against Gene Kelly with 60 percent of the vote. Kelly had been the unsuccessful Democratic nominee against Hutchison in 2000. Libertarian Scott Lanier Jameson (born July 1, 1966), a real estate consultant from Plano, also ran for the seat.

Radnofsky faced an uphill battle in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since 1994, as George W. Bush's landslide re-election as governor in 1998 had helped carry Republicans into all the other statewide offices. In the August 2006 Rasmussen poll, Hutchison led her opponent by 30 percentage points — 61 to 31.[14] The Survey USA Poll, which is not a head-to-head matchup, but only lists approval ratings of incumbents, found Hutchison with a 61 percent approval rating.[15] The Zogby poll, in contrast, showed a closer result, but still showed Hutchison with an 18.9 percent lead.[16] The authors stated "... Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who got 65 percent of the vote in 2000, is a safe bet to win a third term."

On election night 2006, Hutchison won re-election to another term, winning 2,661,789 votes (61.7%). Radnofsky won 1,555,202 votes (36.04%).[17] Radnofsky only won in base Democratic areas, carrying only border counties with strong Hispanic majorities, such as El Paso and Webb (Laredo) and in Travis County (Austin). Hutchison won everything else, having won majorities in 236 of the state's 254 counties.

In a letter dated December 9, 2010, Hutchison told some Republicans that she would not support the DREAM Act.[25] Hutchison co-sponsored legislation with Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona to introduce the ACHIEVE Act which they intended to be a compromise proposal. The ACHIEVE Act would not grant a pathway to citizenship; instead it would offer renewable visas to some undocumented immigrants who are Dreamers.[26] Senator Hutchison voted to discontinue funding to 'sanctuary cities,' voted against comprehensive immigration reform, and voted to make English the official language of the United States; she voted against eliminating the 'Y' guest worker visas and voted 'yes' to allowing more foreign workers to work on farms.[27] The American Immigration Lawyers Association, which supports immigration reform, gave her an 80% rating in 2008, and the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which opposes illegal immigration and seeks to reduce legal immigration levels, gave her a 100% rating.[19] Numbers USA, which also opposes illegal and legal immigration, gave her a 76% score.[19]

Hutchison has a mixed voting record on abortion rights. In 2012, she said she identifies as "pro-life."[28][29] She was identified as nominally pro-abortion rights for several years including 2005–2010.[30][31][32] She served as an honorary board member of The WISH List, a pro-abortion rights Republican special interest group.[33] She has voted to restrict abortion rights, but has said that she does not favor overturning Roe v. Wade and that the Republican Party should not build its platform around abortion, which she calls a "personal and religious issue."[34] In 1993, Hutchison, then a candidate for the US Senate, identified as "pro-choice" while supporting restrictions on abortion and received campaign contributions from the WISH List.[35] In 1994, Senator Hutchison was one of 17 Republicans who broke with their party to vote in favor of a bill, sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy, to protect access to abortion clinics by making it a federal crime to block or physically attack the clinics.[36] Also, "Hutchison voted for a 2003 resolution in the Senate stating that the Roe decision 'was appropriate and secures an important constitutional right; and such decision should not be overturned.'"[37] She was one of nine Republicans who joined Democrats to support Roe.[38][39] Hutchison continued to support abortion rights early in a pregnancy. She said: "I've always said that I think that women should have the ability to make that decision, even if I disagree with it."[35] In June 2004, during the Republican state convention, she told reporters she supported a woman's right to have an abortion early in a pregnancy.[40]

Although she supports the Roe v. Wade decision and legal abortion early in a pregnancy, Hutchison has a "nearly perfect" record of voting in line with the position of anti-abortion interest groups.[41] During her time in the U.S. Senate, Hutchison received consistently high scores from the National Right to Life Committee and consistently low scores from NARAL Pro-Choice America.[42] Hutchison's highest scores from NARAL were a 20% in both 2000 and 2004.[43] In 2005, the Population Institute, which supports voluntary family planning, gave her a 50% score for their positions.[19] In 2008, the pro-abortion rights National Organization for Women gave her a 19% score.[19] Also in 2008, she received a 100% rating for voting in line with the position of Population Action International which advocates for access to family planning services.[44]

Hutchison proposed the "District of Columbia Personal Protection Act," which drew 31 cosponsors in the United States Senate, while drawing 157 cosponsors from the House. This bill repealed the handgun bans the city had in place for thirty years. DC's law stated that one could not possess a rifle or shotgun unless it was in disassembled and inoperative form, and could not possess pistols in any form. In 2008, the law was struck down in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, District of Columbia v. Heller.

Hutchison is a strong supporter of single-sex education in public schools. In 2001, she worked with Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) to write provisions into the No Child Left Behind Act (specifically sections 5131.a.23 and 5131c) authorizing single-sex education in public schools. Section 5131c required the Department of Education to write new regulations facilitating single-sex classrooms; this provision led to the publication of new regulations by the Department of Education in 2006 which do in fact facilitate single-sex education in public schools. She is a supporter of the U.S. Public Service Academy.

In 2006, Senator Hutchison broke with the majority of Republicans and voted in favor of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.[45] Hutchison had also signed a letter addressed to President Bush, co-signed by 12 other Republicans, in support of stem cell research in 2001.[46]

In 2005, Hutchison voted against prohibiting oil leasing in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and has supported legislation promoting drilling in the refuge in 2002 and 2003. In 2005 she also voted against including oil and gas smokestacks in the Environmental Protection Agency's mercury regulations.[47] In 1999, she voted to remove funding for renewable and solar energy, although she has more recently stated she supports the development of alternative energy sources.[48] The League of Conservation Voters gave Hutchison ratings ranging from 0% to 12% during her time in the U.S. Senate.[49]

Hutchison supports the practice of earmarking as a way to bring federal government money to her constituents. Hutchison, through her assignment on the Senate's appropriations committee, has been influential in directing federal funds to projects in her state. In FY 2008 and FY 2009, Hutchison sponsored or co-sponsored 281 earmarks totaling almost $500 million. In an interview with the Austin American-Statesman, Hutchison expressed her pride in the practice as a way to, "garner Texans' fair share of their tax dollars."[50]

Hutchison's earmarks and appropriations have been criticized as pork barrel projects or pet projects by the non-partisan government watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. CAGW recognized Hutchison's efforts by naming her "Porker of the Month" in October 2009, based on her extensive legislative history, in addition to her request for 149 such pork projects worth $1.6 billion in FY 2010.[51]

Hutchison voted for Senate Republican amendments to the financial reform bill before eventually voting against HR 4173, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, on May 20, 2010.[52]

Hutchison voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,[50] which authorized the creation of the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

Hutchison voted against the passage of Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. However, Hutchison broke ranks with her Republican colleagues and opposed an attempt to stall the Democrats' health-care bill in the Senate.[22][23] She was one of three Republican Senators to oppose the filibuster attempt.[53][24] Hutchison was joined by Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine.[54] Hutchison was also one of 16 Republican Senators who voted with Democrats to pass the Children Health Insurance Program.[55]

Hutchison's campaign said she was opposed to same-sex marriage.[40] In 1996, Hutchison voted for the Defense of Marriage Act banning federal benefits for same-sex marriages.[56] She voted in favor of the Hate Crimes Enhancement Act, which includes sexual orientation, and she co-sponsored the Ryan Act to fund HIV/AIDS services; however, she voted against domestic partnerships in the District of Columbia.[57] In 2004 and 2006, she voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment which was a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. She voted against later legislation expanding hate crime definitions to include sexual orientation, but did vote against banning affirmative action for federal contractors.[58] In 2009, Hutchison voted for a Defense spending bill that included penalties for people who harm others based on sexual orientation as well as for the 2012 Reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act which stated that all organizations receiving funds cannot discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.[59] The Human Rights Campaign, an organization supportive of LGBT rights, gave Hutchison a score of 50%, her highest, from 1993–1994 while she received as low as zero percent in later scores.[60] Hutchison received a 40% from both 1997–1998 and in 2001.[43] In 2010, Hutchison voted against repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell.[43]

As Senator, Hutchison generally favored tax cuts. In 1999, Hutchison supported the "council-led tax cuts" in Washington D.C.[61] Later, in 2001, Hutchison successfully offered a measure to return "$69 billion to the tax cut for marriage penalty relief."[62]