Kay Bailey Hutchison became the first woman to represent her state in the U.S. Senate with her election in 1993. She was elected to a second full term in 2000 with the largest number of votes ever garnered in Texas, more than 4 million. With her election as vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, she became one of the top five leaders of Senate Republicans in the 107th Congress.

Hutchison has emerged as one of the Senate’s leading voices on foreign policy and national security issues. She is a U.S. delegate to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission. She is a member of the Defense Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and serves as Ranking Republican on the Military Construction Subcommittee. She is the Ranking Republican on the Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Aviation, where she played a major role in drafting the landmark airline security bill passed by Congress after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Hutchison also serves on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Hutchison was the chief Senate sponsor of the marriage tax penalty relief bill, a key provision of the tax reform package signed into law in 2001. She is the author of the Homemaker IRA legislation, which significantly expanded retirement opportunities for stay-at-home spouses, and she wrote and passed the federal anti-stalking statute, which makes stalking across state lines a crime.

As America and its allies began their fight against terrorism and the Taliban, Hutchison passed legislation that ensures humanitarian aid to Afghanistan be made available to the women and children for health care and education.

She was twice elected to the Texas House of Representatives and also served as the Texas State Treasurer.