Nancy Kassebaum Baker, first woman elected to U.S. Senate without a spouse's tenure, dies at 94

Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a Kansas Republican who served three Senate terms from 1978 to 1997, died on August 21, 2026, at age 94. She was the first woman elected to the Senate without following a spouse into office. Daughter of 1936 GOP presidential nominee Alf Landon, she co-authored the 1996 Kassebaum-Kennedy health insurance portability law and chaired the Labor and Human Resources Committee.