Former Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker of Kansas, a pioneering figure in American politics and the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate who did not have a husband with prior congressional service, died Friday. She was 94.
Her son, Bill Kassebaum, told The Associated Press that she died of natural causes. "She loved Kansas. She loved people from Kansas and representing Kansas for 18 years in the U.S. Senate," he said. "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."
Kassebaum Baker was elected to the Senate in 1978 and served three terms, concluding her tenure in 1997. She was the daughter of former Kansas Gov. Alf Landon, who was the Republican Party's presidential nominee in 1936. Kassebaum Baker established a reputation as a moderate Republican often willing to diverge from her party's platform.
Her election drew national attention, and by the time she retired, she was among eight women serving in the Senate and the sole woman chairing a Senate committee. She also became known for her bipartisan collaboration, notably co-authoring a significant 1996 health insurance law with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
Kassebaum Baker's political independence sometimes placed her at odds with conservatives. She supported an assault weapons ban advocated by then-President Bill Clinton, a vote she stated generated the most negative correspondence of her Senate career. Despite these instances, she maintained considerable popularity in Kansas, securing re-election with 76% of the vote in 1984 and 74% in 1990.
In 1996, shortly before leaving the Senate, she married former Republican Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee, a union notable as the first marriage between a man and a woman who had both served in the Senate. Howard Baker, who had served as President Ronald Reagan's chief of staff and later as U.S. ambassador to Japan, died in 2014.
Following her time in Congress, Kassebaum Baker remained engaged in public service, including participation in a bipartisan commission on campaign finance reform during the Clinton administration. In later years, she increasingly expressed dissent from the direction of the Republican Party, endorsing Democratic candidates in several Kansas races, including for Gov. Laura Kelly.
She also voiced support for the impeachment of President Donald Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, stating at the time, "This just has gone too far."
Despite her extensive career in national politics, Kassebaum Baker maintained a strong connection to Kansas. As she prepared to move to Japan during her husband's ambassadorship, she reflected on her departure, saying, "All I can say is, I will miss the Kansas prairie."