The 1978 United States Senate election in Kansas took place on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Republican Senator

James B. Pearson James Blackwood Pearson (May 7, 1920January 13, 2009) was a United States Senator from Kansas from 1962 to 1978. Biography James Pearson was born in 1920 in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of a Methodist minister. With his parents, he moved to Vi ...

did not run for re-election to a third full term.

Nancy Landon Kassebaum Nancy Jo Kassebaum Baker (née Landon; born July 29, 1932) is an American politician who represented the State of Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997. She is the daughter of Alf Landon, who was Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1 ...

, the daughter of former Governor

Alf Landon Alfred Mossman Landon (September 9, 1887October 12, 1987) was an American oilman and politician who served as the 26th governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937. A member of the Republican Party, he was the party's nominee in the 1936 presidential el ...

, won the election, defeating a large field of Republican candidates in the primary and Democratic former U.S. Representative

Bill Roy William Robert Roy (February 23, 1926 – May 26, 2014), also known as Bill Roy, was a United States representative from Kansas, a physician, and a columnist for ''The Topeka Capital-Journal''. He was the Democratic nominee for U.S Senator of K ...

in the general election. Roy lost by a much smaller margin four years earlier against Kansas' other U.S. Senator, Bob Dole. Kassebaum became the first woman elected to a full term in the Senate without her husband having previously served in Congress. In fact, at the time of the election, she was separated from her husband

John Philip Kassebaum John Philip Kassebaum (October 24, 1932 – February 28, 2016) was an American attorney and art collector and former husband of U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Kassebaum met Nancy Landon while attending the Universit ...

. Their divorce was finalized in 1979, making Kassebaum the first single divorcée to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Republican primary

Candidates

Wayne Angell Wayne D. Angell (born June 28, 1930) is an American economist, politician and professor who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1986 to 1994. Angell was born in Liberal, Kansas. Biography He graduated from Ottawa ...

, former State Representative from Ottawa *L. C. Fitzjarrell, resident of Stilwell *Norman Gaar, State Senator from Westwood *Bill Gibbs, resident of

Overland Park Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. ...

*Sam Hardage, hotel executive from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

*Ken Henderson *

, aide to retiring Senator Pearson and daughter of

* Jan Meyers, State Senator from

*Deryl K. Schuster, resident of

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

*James R. Maher, resident of

*Roland Preboth, nominee for Secretary of State in 1964 *

, former U.S. Representative and nominee for Senate in 1974 *Dorothy K. White, resident of Wichita

Results

Though he was defeated in the Democratic primary, James Maher ran in the general election as the nominee of the Conservative Party.

General election

Results

References

{{1978 United States elections 1978

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Results

See also

References