Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R., Kan.) ended months of speculation and hurt Democratic hopes of capturing a Senate seat in Kansas by announcing Thursday that she will seek a third term in 1990 despite her earlier assertion that senators should serve only two six-year terms.
Within the last several months, two Republican senators, Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire and William Armstrong of Colorado, have announced they will not seek re-election. Democrats, who already control the Senate 55-45, are hoping those resignations will give them a chance to pick up more seats.
Kassebaum said she had ”struggled for some time” over her decision to run for re-election but finally decided to do it because there is no limitation on the number of terms other senators can serve. When first elected, Kassebaum introduced a bill to limit senators to two terms, but it got nowhere.
”Unless everyone`s doing it, you lose seniority that I think is valuable to our state,” she said.
Kassebaum is the daughter of the late Alf Landon, a former Kansas governor and the 1936 GOP presidential nominee.
