State Sen. Florence Shapiro was the first Republican to declare her intent to run for the was-supposed-to-be-open Senate seat of Kay Bailey Hutchison. She’s now the first Republican to abandon that pursuit.
In the latest fallout from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s decision not to resign any time soon, state Sen. Florence Shapiro said Friday she will file for re-election to the Texas Senate post she has held since 1993.
Shapiro, R-Plano, had announced her campaign for U.S. Senate 16 months ago.
“I will adjust my U.S. Senate campaign based on the future resignation decision of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison,” Shapiro said in a statement. “On July 15, 2008, I became the first candidate in Texas to announce for the U.S. Senate. I knew it would be a long road.
Sen. Shapiro is likely to be the only Republican to abandon this race, as she’s the only one who would have to give up her current office to do so; Railroad Commishes Elizabeth Ames Jones (2012) and Michael Williams (2014) aren’t on the ballot, and Roger Williams holds no office. On the Democratic side, well, we all know about that. If KBH does actually resign, then all bets are off, and if the next Senate election is 2012, the same is true. But for now, the field is set, with one person fewer than before.
By the way, here’s an oldie but goodie from my archives, which I found when looking for that link about Shapiro’s initial announcement, in which we learn that KBH will indeed resign from the Senate, because some unnamed Republican Congressman told Paul Burka that he was sure it was so, and I said “I’ll believe it when I see it”. It’s like I was psychic or something.
Marie Antoinette Hutchison certainly has made quite a few new friends all around Texas with her latest “I must do what’s best for Texans” pronouncement. I suspect she may actually withdraw at some point. Again. And of course do so on the basis of “I must do what best for Texans.” I doubt she will run for the Senate again. Or anything else.
It’s one thing to tell the masses to “eat cake” and quite another to tell her fellow elected “cohorts” to “eat cake” and I suspect if the voters don’t send her to the “guillotine” the Texas Republican Party will.
She has done the impossible. Make Rick Perry look good to everyone except those few who continue to support her simply because they couldn’t buy Rick Perry and have bought her.