Developments Monday in the 2010 Texas gubernatorial race will also influence the as-yet-unscheduled special election to succeed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R).

According to Texas media reports, businessman Tom Schieffer (D) plans to withdraw from the governor’s race Monday afternoon, a development that paves the way for Houston mayor Bill White to seek the Democratic nomination for the office Gov. Rick Perry (R) is defending.

White has long prepared to run for the Senate seat that Hutchison originally planned to vacate this fall to concentrate on unseating Perry in the March primary election. But Hutchison is staying put in the Senate through the primary, and it could be a year until a special election is held.