Former Kansas Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, a trailblazing Republican who served nearly two decades in the U.S. Senate, died Friday at the age of 94.
Her son, Bill Kassebaum, said she died of natural causes.
“Born on July 29, 1932, in Topeka, Kansas, for 94 years she relished the support of family and friends from all over the world,” her family said in a statement. “Her years were filled with remarkable successes, challenges, and above all, a deep love for Kansas.”
Kassebaum Baker represented Kansas in the Senate for 18 years and developed a reputation as an independent-minded Republican willing to break with her party.
“She loved Kansas. She loved people from Kansas and representing Kansas for 18 years in the U.S. Senate,” Bill Kassebaum told the Associated Press. “She was an independent-minded Republican who was willing to stand up for what she thought was right, even if that meant going against the party.”
Born Nancy Josephine Landon, she was the daughter of former Kansas Gov. Alfred M. “Alf” Landon, the Republican presidential nominee in 1936.
She married John Philip Kassebaum in 1955, and the couple raised four children in Maize, Kansas. Kassebaum Baker worked for the family’s radio business and served on the Maize school board before entering national politics.
She also briefly worked as a caseworker for Kansas Sen. James B. Pearson.
When Pearson retired, Kassebaum launched a campaign for his Senate seat in 1978.
She won a crowded nine-candidate Republican primary with less than 31 percent of the vote before defeating former Democratic Rep. Bill Roy in the general election with nearly 54 percent.
Kassebaum Baker was sworn into office on Dec. 23, 1978, and remained in the Senate until January 1997.
Her election made history.
She became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate without previously having a husband who served in Congress. She was also the first woman to represent Kansas in the chamber and was the Senate’s only female member during the first two years of her tenure.
Kassebaum Baker easily secured reelection during her career, winning 76 percent of the vote in 1984 and 74 percent in 1990.
During her three terms, she served on several influential committees, including the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, which she chaired from 1995 until leaving office.
One of her most significant legislative accomplishments came when she worked with Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy to co-sponsor the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, per Trending Politics.
The law included protections affecting health insurance coverage for Americans changing jobs, including people with pre-existing conditions.
Kassebaum Baker also backed sanctions against South Africa’s apartheid government. Congress enacted those sanctions in 1986 over a presidential veto.
Throughout her Senate career, she became known for working across party lines on issues ranging from welfare reform to campaign finance and federal arts funding.
In December 1996, shortly before leaving the Senate, she married former Tennessee Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr.
She later accompanied Baker to Japan when he served as U.S. ambassador there from 2001 to 2005.
After his death in 2014, Kassebaum Baker returned to Kansas and lived on a ranch in the Flint Hills near Burdick.
Her family said a private memorial service will be held at a later date.
They have requested that memorial donations be made to the Capper Foundation or the Kansas 4-H Foundation.
