Nancy Kassebaum Baker, first woman elected to the Senate without a husband's prior service, dies at 94
Former Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker of Kansas died Friday at 94 of natural causes, according to her son, Bill Kassebaum, who spoke to the Associated Press. She was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate without previously having a husband who had served in Congress. Kassebaum Baker won election in 1978 and served three terms, leaving office in 1997.
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Nancy Kassebaum Baker, the daughter of former Kansas Gov. Alf Landon — the Republican Party's 1936 presidential nominee — built a reputation over 18 years in the Senate as a moderate Republican willing to break with her party on key votes. Her son, Bill Kassebaum, said she "loved Kansas" and described her as "an independent-minded Republican who was willing to stand up for what she thought was right, even if that meant going against the party."
Her election in 1978 drew immediate national attention as a barrier-breaking moment for women in Congress. By the time she announced her retirement, she was one of eight women serving in the Senate and the only woman chairing a Senate committee at the time.
Kassebaum Baker also developed a reputation for bipartisan legislating. A landmark 1996 health insurance law bore her name alongside that of Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts — the Kennedy-Kassebaum Act — and she served on a bipartisan commission on campaign finance reform during the Clinton administration. She also supported an assault weapons ban backed by President Bill Clinton, which she said generated the angriest mail of her Senate career.