AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he might move up the date of the special election to replace Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison because too many important things are going on in Washington.
After months of speculation, Hutchison confirmed Wednesday that she plans to resign her Senate seat to run for governor sometime around October or November.
Perry mocked Hutchison's announcement, and suggested he wasn't convinced she would actually step down from her position.
"For us not to have someone in the United States Senate looking after Texas interests, I think, is irresponsible," Perry said. "Maybe the Senator should think about that rather than the other things she’s thinking about."
When told by a reporter that Hutchison had remarked that 15 years in the governor's mansion is too long for one person, Perry said, "I guess 15 years in the United States Senate is not too long."
Hutchison dropped the bombshell disclosure in an interview with Dallas talk show host Mark Davis on WBAP Radio.
She said she'd formally announce her entry into the Republican primary race against incumbent Perry in August.
"Then the actual leaving of the Senate will be sometime — October, November — that, in that time frame," she said.