Kassebaum Baker became the first woman elected to the US Senate without following a spouse into office

Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a Kansas governor’s daughter who became the first woman elected to the US Senate without following a spouse into office, has died. She was 94.

Kassebaum Baker died on Friday of natural causes, according to her son, Bill Kassebaum.

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© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

© Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP

A moderate Republican from Kansas, she served three terms before tiring of political strife. “I couldn’t get elected today,” she said in 2013.

© Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

Angie Nixon, a state lawmaker from Jacksonville, shocked Democrats in red Florida by soundly defeating her centrist primary opponent. Now comes the hard part.

© Saul Martinez for The New York Times