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 third full term.
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
County results Kassebaum: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Roy: 40–50% 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
|
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 William R. Roy 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. Their divorce was finalized in 1979, making Kassebaum the first single divorcée 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% |