1978 United States Senate election in Kansas

The 1978 United States Senate election in Kansas took place on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Republican Senator James B. Pearson did not run for re-election to a second term.

1978 United States Senate election in Kansas
November 7, 1978
 
Nominee Nancy Kassebaum Bill Roy
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 403,354 317,602
Percentage 53.86% 42.41%
County Results
Kassebaum:      40–50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%
Roy:      40–50%      50–60%
U.S. senator before election

James B. Pearson
Republican

 Elected U.S. Senator

Nancy Kassebaum
Republican

Elections in Kansas

Nancy Landon Kassebaum, the daughter of former Governor Alf Landon, won the election, defeating a large field of Republican candidates in the primary and Democratic former U.S. Representative Bill Roy in the general election.

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

Republican primary

Candidates

Results
1978 Republican Senate primary[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Nancy Landon Kassebaum 67,324 30.58%
Republican Wayne Angell 54,161 24.60%
Republican Sam Hardage 30,248 13.74%
Republican Jan Meyers 20,933 9.51%
Republican Deryl K. Schuster 18,568 8.44%
Republican Norman Gaar 14,502 6.59%
Republican Ken Henderson 8,826 4.01%
Republican Bill Gibbs 3,123 1.42%
Republican L. C. Fitzjarrell 2,457 1.12%
Total votes 220,142 100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates
  • James R. Maher, resident of Overland Park
  • Roland Preboth, nominee for Secretary of State in 1964
  • Bill Roy, former U.S. Representative and nominee for Senate in 1974
  • Dorothy K. White, resident of Wichita

Results
1978 Democratic Senate primary[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bill Roy 100,508 76.68%
Democratic Dorothy K. White 13,865 10.58%
Democratic James R. Maher 11,556 8.82%
Democratic Roland W. Preboth 5,138 3.92%
Total votes 131,067 100.00%

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
General election results[3][4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Nancy Kassebaum 403,354 53.86% 17.56
Democratic Bill Roy 317,602 42.41% 19.38
Conservative James R. Maher 22,497 3.00% 1.07
Prohibition Russell Mikels 5,386 0.72% 0.76
Total votes 748,839 100.00%
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See also

References
  1. https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=225335
  2. https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=269377
  3. https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=5317
  4. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1979). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
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