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 County results Kassebaum: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Roy: 40–50% 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1978 United States Senate election in Kansas took place on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Republican SenatorJames B. Pearson did not run for re-election to a third full term.
Nancy Landon Kassebaum, the daughter of former GovernorAlf Landon, won the election, defeating a large field of Republican candidates in the primary and Democratic former U.S. RepresentativeWilliam R. Roy in the general election.
Roy lost by a much smaller marginfour 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 husbandJohn Philip Kassebaum. Their divorce was finalized in 1979, making Kassebaum the first singledivorcée to serve in the U.S. Senate.
| 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% | ||
| 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.
| 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% | |||
