U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is challenging Gov. Rick Perry in the Republican primary, announced Saturday that she won’t resign her Senate seat until after the March primaries are over.
Campaign officials provided The Associated Press a copy of her prepared speech to Republican women in Galveston on Saturday. In it, Hutchison says she is stepping down in 2010 regardless of who wins the Republican primary for govenor. But she says there are too many important issues facing Congress for her to quit this fall as she had planned.
The senator says in the written speech that she “will be resigning this Senate seat” next year. “Make no mistake, this is going to happen,” Hutchison plans to say.
Governor Rick Perry responded by releasing his own statement through his PAC “Texans for Rick Perry” .The group said, “They are glad the senator finally made the decision not to resign. It is unfortunate that while speaking about fighting in Washington for Texas, she also took the opportunity to attack Texas and our principled Republican leadership in the legislature. Governor Perry will continue to highlight the success of our great state and his vision for an even better future.”
