Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) became the rare sitting senator to run for governor and fail to secure his party’s nomination when he lost Tuesday’s Democratic primary to state Attorney General Phil Weiser — but his defeat was not unprecedented.
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Incumbent Texas Gov. Rick Perry soundly defeated Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison when she challenged him in the Republican primary in 2010 after criticizing Hutchison as part of the Washington establishment.
“I’m pretty much Texas-centric,” Perry told The Washington Post at the time. “She, on the other hand, goes to Washington.”
Back in 1948, Sen. William E. Jenner sought the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana but was defeated in the Republican convention after Indiana Gov. Ralph F. Gates maneuvered against him.
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Like Bennet, neither Hutchison nor Jenner were up for reelection when they ran for governor, allowing them to remain in the Senate after they lost.
Hutchison did not run for reelection, but Jenner spent another decade in the Senate after his failed run for governor. He became a prominent anti-communist and an ally of Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin).
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