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Candidates
Kay Bailey Hutchison grew up in La Marque and graduated from the University of Texas and UT Law School. She has achieved many firsts in her life including the first woman television reporter in Texas, first Republican woman elected to the Texas House of Representatives, first Republican elected as State Treasurer of Texas, and as the senior United States Senator from Texas she is the highest ranking Republican woman in Congress.
In 1993, Hutchison was elected to the United States Senate in a special election, making her the first woman elected to represent the state in the Senate. One year later, she was elected to a full six-year term, and was re-elected in 2000 and 2006.
Hutchison is the Senior Republican on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Additionally, she is on the Appropriations Committee, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on Rules and Administration. Hutchison has also served in the Senate leadership, and was elected by her colleagues to be Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee during the 110th Congress. She is a member of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly (RNHA) National Advisory Committee, and is Chairman of the West Point Board of Visitors.
The senator lives in Dallas with her husband, Ray, and their two children, Bailey and Houston.
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Debra Medina was born in Beeville and raised on a South Texas farm.
Medina first got involved in politics in the early 1990s and served as chair of the Republican Party of Wharton County in Southeast Texas, as well as Texas coordinator of the Campaign for Liberty. In 2008, Medina took the Republican Party of Texas to court over violations in how the state convention was run.
Medina is a registered nurse, having graduated from San Antonio?s Baptist Memorial Hospital System School of Nursing in 1984. She later earned a bachelor?s degree in Business Management from Le Tourneau University. In 2002, she founded her own business, Prudentia Inc., which specializes in improving medical billing procedures.
Medina lives in Wharton County with her husband Noe. They have been married for 26 years, and have two children.
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Rick Perry, a fifth-generation Texan, grew up the son of tenant farmers in the West Texas town of Paint Creek. The younger of Ray and Amelia Perry?s two children, he was active in scouting and earned distinction as an Eagle Scout. Perry was one of the first in his family to go to college, earning a degree in Animal Science at Texas A&M, where he was also a member of the Corps of Cadets and a Yell Leader.
Between 1972 and 1977, Perry served in the U.S. Air Force flying C-130 tactical airlift aircraft in the Europe and the Middle East. He is a lifetime member of American Legion Post #75. His political career started in 1985 when he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives where he served four terms. He was first elected to statewide office in 1990, and served as Texas Commissioner of Agriculture for two terms.
Perry was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1998. He was sworn in as Texas? 47th Governor in December 2000 when Governor George W. Bush resigned before his inauguration as President of the United States. Perry was elected to a four-year term in 2002, and re-elected in 2006.
Rick Perry married his childhood sweetheart, Anita Thigpen. The Governor and First Lady are the parents of two children ? Griffin, 23, and Sydney, 20. They are members of Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin.
Moderator
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Shelley Kofler is an award-winning political reporter, television producer and KERA News Director with more than 20 years of experience covering North Texas. She served as moderator for The Texas Debates, guiding the debate between U.S. Senate candidates John Cornyn and Rick Noriega. Since joining KERA in 2007, she has been honored with multiple awards for excellence including the Edward R. Murrow Award, multiple Lone Star Emmys for governmental and political reporting as well as awards from the Associated Press and the Public Radio News Directors? Association. Shelley has reported on numerous Presidential primary contests, conventions and elections as well as statewide and local campaigns. She previously covered government and policy issues for North Texas NBC affiliate KXAS-TV and ABC affiliate WFAA-TV, where she served as the station?s Austin bureau chief and legislative reporter. |
Host
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Doug Dunbar co-anchors the CBS 11 News at 10:00 p.m., the number one newscast in the state of Texas. He also co-anchors the CBS 11 News at 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. and regularly contributes special reports on a variety of subjects. Doug is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and was part of the CBS 11 team which received a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for excellence. From Cuba, to Haiti, to points around the United States and right here in Texas, Doug has covered many of the major stories of the last 20 years. |
Panelists
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Maria Renée Barillas is a reporter and anchor for KUVN Univisión 23 in Dallas. She began her journalism career in Guatemala and has covered politics and other issues of importance to Hispanics for more than 15 years. She has extensive experience in radio and television, including work as a general assignments reporter for Univision's Los Angeles station. |
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Dave Montgomery is Austin Bureau Chief with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and has more than 40 years experience in journalism in a career that has stretched from the capitol in Austin to the Kremlin in Moscow. He was state capitol bureau chief for the Dallas Times Herald for eight years in the 1970s, covering the aftermath of the Sharpstown stock fraud scandal and the election of Bill Clements as the first Republican governor since reconstruction. Montgomery spent 20 years in Washington, serving two stints as Washington bureau chief for the Star-Telegram during four presidential administrations from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush. As Moscow bureau chief for Knight Ridder from 1998 to 2002, he covered the emergence of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, the Russian financial crisis, the Kursk submarine disaster and Russia?s second war in Chechnya. He has also covered terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia. |
Venue
The University of North Texas is a student-centered public research university located in Denton, Texas. As one of Texas' largest universities, UNT offers 97 bachelor's, 101 master's and 49 doctoral degree programs within the university's 12 colleges and schools.
Expert rankings in U.S. News & World Report put UNT among the top national universities that are ?leading the pack? in innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity and facilities. UNT is the flagship of the UNT System.
The Murchison Performing Arts Center on the UNT campus (shown at right) is host to world-class performances by students, faculty, guest artists and community members. The Murchison Performing Arts Center features two premiere venues: the Margot and Bill Winspear Performance Hall and the Lyric Theater.
The views and opinions expressed by participants and representatives of The Texas Debates: Race for Governor do not necessarily reflect those of the University of North Texas.
