In 1993, Texans elected Kay Bailey Hutchison to the United States Senate in a special election, making her the first -- and, to date, the only -- woman elected to represent the state in the Senate. One year later, she was re-elected to a full six-year term. In 2000, she received more votes for her re-election to a second full term than any other statewide candidate had ever received. And in 2006, she was again re-elected by an overwhelming margin. Senator Hutchison is the Senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Additionally, she is on the Appropriations Committee and the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Senator Hutchison has also served in the Senate leadership, having been elected by her colleagues to be Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee during the 110th Congress. Senator Hutchison is a member of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly (RNHA) National Advisory Committee, and she is Chairman of the West Point Board of Visitors.

In 2008, Senator Hutchison authored an amicus curiae brief for the Supreme Court case DC v. Heller, affirming an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. Her brief was signed by the Vice President of the United States and by more members of Congress than any other brief in U.S. history.

Senator Hutchison grew up in La Marque, Texas and graduated from the University of Texas and UT School of Law. She was twice elected to the Texas House of Representatives. In 1990, she was elected Texas State Treasurer. In June 2000, she and several colleagues coauthored Nine and Counting: The Women of the Senate, and in 2004, she released her second book, American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country. Senator Hutchison published her most recent bestseller, Leading Ladies: American Trailblazers, in October 2007. She lives in Dallas with her husband and their two children.