Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former US senator from Kansas, dies at 94

Nancy Kassebaum Baker, former US senator from Kansas, dies at 94 1 of 5 | Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, looks to the stage during, “A Century of Service,” honoring former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker, her husband, at Mellon Auditorium, March 21, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) 2 of 5 | Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, temporary chairman of the Republican Convention, prepares to bang the gavel to call the session of the convention to order in Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, July 14, 1980. Republican Committee Chairman Bill Brock stands beside her on the podium. (AP Photo, File) 3 of 5 | Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Howard Baker, left, walks in with his wife, former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, right, before being presented with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers award at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Washington, May 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) 4 of 5 | Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, reflects on her first year as the junior Senator from Kansas in her Washington office, Dec. 21, 1979. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File) 5 of 5 | President Bill Clinton, flanked by Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, right, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 21, 1996, prior to signing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. (AP Photo/Ruth Fremson, File) 1 of 5 | Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, looks to the stage during, “A Century of Service,” honoring former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker, her husband, at Mellon Auditorium, March 21, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) 1 of 5 Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, looks to the stage during, “A Century of Service,” honoring former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker, her husband, at Mellon Auditorium, March 21, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 2 of 5 | Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, temporary chairman of the Republican Convention, prepares to bang the gavel to call the session of the convention to order in Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, July 14, 1980. Republican Committee Chairman Bill Brock stands beside her on the podium. (AP Photo, File) 2 of 5 Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, temporary chairman of the Republican Convention, prepares to bang the gavel to call the session of the convention to order in Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, July 14, 1980. Republican Committee Chairman Bill Brock stands beside her on the podium. (AP Photo, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 3 of 5 | Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Howard Baker, left, walks in with his wife, former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, right, before being presented with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers award at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Washington, May 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) 3 of 5 Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Howard Baker, left, walks in with his wife, former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, R-Kansas, right, before being presented with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers award at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Washington, May 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 4 of 5 | Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, reflects on her first year as the junior Senator from Kansas in her Washington office, Dec. 21, 1979. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File) 4 of 5 Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, reflects on her first year as the junior Senator from Kansas in her Washington office, Dec. 21, 1979. (AP Photo/Charles W. Harrity, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 5 of 5 | President Bill Clinton, flanked by Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, right, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 21, 1996, prior to signing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. (AP Photo/Ruth Fremson, File) 5 of 5 President Bill Clinton, flanked by Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kansas, right, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., arrives on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 21, 1996, prior to signing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. (AP Photo/Ruth Fremson, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a Kansas governor’s daughter who became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate without following a spouse into office, has died. She was 94.Kassebaum Baker died Friday of natural causes, according to her son, Bill Kassebaum.“She loved Kansas. She loved people from Kansas and representing Kansas for 18 years in the U.S. Senate,” he told The Associated Press. “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.”She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978 and served three terms. Her modest demeanor endeared her to voters of all political stripes, though she shared the moderate, progressive Republican politics of her father, Gov. Alf Landon, the unsuccessful 1936 GOP nominee for president. Even after leaving the Senate early in 1997, she continued taking on public service roles.She married former Sen. Howard Baker, a Tennessee Republican, in 1996. He died in 2014.Kassebaum Baker remained an icon for Kansans generally. She could work with Senate colleagues of all political philosophies, and a 1996 health insurance law bore her name, along with that of liberal Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy. A centrist politician from America’s heartlandHer election to the Senate brought her immediate national attention. When she announced her retirement, she was among eight women senators and the only one to chair a Senate committee, the Labor and Human Resources panel.She was also in a dwindling bloc of moderate-to-liberal Republicans, having supported for example a ban on assault weapons championed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.