2006 Governors Races 

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Texas

CBS NEWS PROJECTS RICK PERRYWINNER

Democrat Chris Bell
vs.
Republican Rick Perry (Incumbent)


Perry becomes Texas’ longest-serving governor. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison contemplated challenging Perry but decided against it. Perry has been credited for his handling of the evacuee crisis after Hurricane Katrina last year. He’s also passed tort reform. Bell was a casualty of redistricting. He told the Dallas Morning News that his first priority is public education, then increasing access to health care. He also has a "Don’t Mess Ethics" plan designed, he says, to root out corruption in state government. Richard "Kinky" Friedman and Carole Keeton Strayhorn ran as independents. Strayhorn is the mother of former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.