After being re-elected to the Senate in 1994, 2000, and 2006, Hutchison was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Texas in 2010, losing the Republican primary to incumbent Rick Perry.

[2] On June 29, 2017, Hutchison was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the next United States Permanent Representative to NATO.

She was a candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1982 for the Dallas-based 3rd District, but was defeated in the primary by Steve Bartlett.

[citation needed] On June 10, 1993, Travis County authorities, led by Democratic District Attorney Ronnie Earle, raided Hutchison's offices at the State Treasury.

[citation needed] A field of 24 candidates sought to fill Bentsen's unexpired term in the May 1993 special election.

[citation needed] During the campaign Krueger charged that Hutchison was a "country club Republican" and insensitive to the feelings of minorities.

[12] 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.

[citation needed] 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.

[13] Hutchison served on the following Senate committees: Appropriations; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Rules and Administration; Veterans' Affairs.

[citation needed] From 2001 to 2007, Hutchison served as Vice-Chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference (caucus), making her the fifth-ranking Republican in the Senate behind Majority Leader Bill Frist, Majority Whip Mitch McConnell and conference chairman Rick Santorum, and Policy Chairman Jon Kyl.

[17] In 2009, Hutchison broke ranks with her Republican colleagues and opposed an attempt to stall the Democrats' health-care bill in the Senate.

[18][19][20] Hutchison announced her intention to resign her Senate post in the autumn of 2009 in order to challenge Texas Governor Perry for the Republican Party nomination.

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.

[31][32] Hutchison served as an honorary board member of The WISH List, a pro-abortion rights Republican special interest group.

"[28] 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.

[41][better source needed] 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.

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.

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.

[45] In 2006, Senator Hutchison broke with the majority of Republicans and voted in favor of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

[46] Hutchison had also signed a letter addressed to President Bush, co-signed by 12 other Republicans, in support of stem cell research in 2001.

[50] Hutchison voted for the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,[44] which authorized the creation of the Troubled Assets Relief Program.

However, Hutchison broke ranks with her Republican colleagues and opposed an attempt to stall the Democrats' health-care bill in the Senate.

Perry criticized Hutchison for her pro-abortion rights position and received endorsements from social conservatives in the state.

[61] Although Hutchison led Perry in polls taken in early 2009 and was perceived by many to be the front-runner in the race, by the fall her lead had evaporated and she consistently trailed the incumbent in the final months before the primary.

Hutchison accumulated a list of high-profile endorsements that included former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Hall of Fame baseball player Nolan Ryan, and several current and former congressmen and Cabinet secretaries.

However, Hutchison lost the primary to Perry, 31 to 53 percent, with the remainder of the vote going to Debra Medina, a dark horse candidate with ties to the Tea Party movement.

[citation needed] On June 29, 2017, Hutchison was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the United States Permanent Representative to NATO.

[65] In 2013, during the 113th United States Congress, the House of Representatives passed a bill to rename IRC section 219(c) as the Kay Bailey Hutchison Spousal IRA.

[76][77] *Lloyd Bentsen resigned his seat to become Secretary of the Treasury; Hutchison won the run-off special election in 1993 to fill out the remainder of his term.