GOP Victory Gives Texas Its First Female Senator

Republican state Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison defeated Democratic Sen. Robert Krueger by a 2-to-1 election margin Saturday to become the first woman to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate.

Hutchison’s victory after a bitter runoff election campaign also means that the state will have two Republican senators--something that has not happened since 1875.

With 97% of the precincts reporting, Hutchison was leading Krueger by a margin of 68% to 32%. Her win cuts the Democratic majority in the Senate to 56-to-44, and gives the chamber a record seven female members, five Democrats and two Republicans.

The timing of her swearing-in ceremony was uncertain, but it was expected to be later this month.

The special election was the first major vote involving Senate candidates since President Clinton took office, and the outcome could only be seen as a black eye for the White House.

Hutchison, 49, focused most of her campaign on opposition to the Administration, particularly its intent to raise energy taxes. Krueger countered by focusing on the notion that it would be dangerous for Texas not to have a Democratic senator at a time when that party controls both the Congress and the White House.

“This election sends a very important message to the Congress and to the President,” Hutchison said Saturday night. “The people are tired of taxes. They want someone to get serious about cutting government spending, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

Hutchison will have about 1 1/2 years in office before she must stand for reelection. That is what remains in the term of former Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, who resigned to become Treasury secretary.

Hutchison’s first step toward the Senate came on May 1, when she finished atop a field of 24 candidates, giving her the right to square off against Krueger, 57, who was appointed to the seat by Democratic Gov. Ann Richards in January but finished second in the primary election.

Texas political strategists said earlier this week that the next election may be more difficult for Hutchison because state Democrats will make every effort to prop up their flagging party.

Coupled with that is the prospect of a higher voter turnout, including more blacks and Latinos, who are now the nucleus of the Democratic Party in Texas. They are more likely to cast ballots in a regular general election, the strategists said.

George Christian, a longtime political analyst, said he could even foresee a situation in which the popular Richards became a U.S. Senate candidate.

“There is really a feeling on the part of some that Richards should do it herself,” Christian said. “I could see a situation where she got a bit of pressure to get in.”

Among the other possibilities mentioned is the return of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros from Washington to run for the seat.

Other possible contenders include former state Atty. Gen. Jim Mattox or one of several congressmen who were candidates in the first election.

One problem the Democrats faced in the race was that there are only three people in the party with wide appeal throughout the state--Richards, Cisneros and Bentsen. When Bentsen went to the Treasury Department and Cisneros was appointed to the HUD post, there were no obvious choices for the open seat and Krueger became the selection almost by default.

This state, once the outright property of the Democratic Party, has been undergoing a metamorphosis in recent years in which white voters have leaned more and more toward the GOP.

That, coupled with the increasing popularity of female candidates and the poor early showing of the Clinton Administration, are widely seen as the reason Hutchison was able to take command of the race.

In the closing days of the campaign, Krueger sought to portray Hutchison as a possible felon who offered a job to a former Democratic judge in exchange for his endorsement in 1990.

Krueger did not help himself with some of his television ads. One portrayed the former college professor as muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger.

This marked the third time in his career that Krueger has lost a race for the Senate. The other losses were in 1978 and 1984.