TOPEKA — Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, who fractured a political glass ceiling as the first woman to represent Kansas in the U.S. Senate, died Friday.
Kassebaum, 94, grew up in Topeka and began her personal journey in politics as a member of the Maize school board. In 1978, she defeated eight Republicans to seize the nomination for U.S. Senate in a contest to determine who took the seat held by retiring Republican U.S. Sen. James Pearson. She prevailed in that general election with 53% of the vote but easily won reelection contests in 1984 and 1990 with more than 70%
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