Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) is expected to announce today that she will not resign her Senate seat while she campaigns for governor. Hutchison won't resign Senate seat

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) will announce she's delaying her resignation from the Senate so that she can continue to represent Texas in the Senate while pursuing the Republican nomination for governor in the Lone Star state.

Had she resigned, as expected, Hutchison would have faced criticism from primary opponent Gov. Rick Perry that she had left Texas without one of its fists in the fight against President Barack Obama’s agenda. By a 60 percent to 26 percent margin, Texas voters say she shouldn’t leave the Senate seat to campaign, according to a Rasmussen Reports poll released today. The same survey shows Hutchison trailing Perry 46 percent to 35 percent.


The decision also gives Hutchison an employment insurance policy: If she loses the primary, she’d still have the Senate seat until at least 2012.

"She will always do what's right for Texas, and that means not only running for governor, but also fighting against Obamacare and cap-and-trade, which will be devastating for Texas,” said Joe Pounder, deputy communications director.

If she wins the nomination, she'd have to choose again whether to stay in the Senate or campaign full time.

Perry has spent much of the last year attempting to define himself as the true conservative in the race – a campaign that has, at times, exposed him to criticism that he’s too extreme.

In openly courting the budding Tea Party movement, he suggested in April that Texas would be within its rights to secede from the union. On Wednesday, he said the president is “punishing” Texas with his policies and that the administration is “hell-bent toward taking American towards a socialist country.”

Meredith Shiner contributed to this story.