Early Career
In 1972 (age 29), Hutchison was elected to the Texas House of Representatives from a district in Houston. She served until 1976. She was vice-chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1976 to 1978. 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. She temporarily left politics and became a bank executive and businesswoman.
Kay Bailey Hutchison was a bank executive of a failed bank in Texas and met and married her second husband Ray Hutchison who was the chairman of the Texas Republican Party in 1976 but left in 1977 to pursue his gubernatorial campaign. In 1978, Ray Hutchison lost the nomination to Bill Clements by a lopsided vote of 115,345 (72.8 percent) to 38,268 (24.2 percent). Kay met Ray when they were both Texas legislators, and Kay's interest in politics grew exponentially.
Read more about this topic: Kay Bailey Hutchison
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