Kay A. Orr

Kay Orr (born January 2, 1939), is a United States Republican Party politician from the state of Nebraska. She served as the 36th Governor of Nebraska from 1987 to 1991.

Background and political roots

Born as Kay Auonne Stark in Burlington, Iowa, Orr attended the University of Iowa. She moved with her family to Lincoln, Nebraska in 1963. Shortly after moving there, she began volunteering as a Republican Party worker. She supported such politicians as Richard M. Nixon, Carl Curtis, and Roman Hruska, and in 1969 was named "Outstanding Young Republican Woman" in Nebraska.^[1]

State treasurer and governor

Orr served as Nebraska State Treasurer from 1981–1986, being appointed as Treasurer to fill a midterm vacancy, and subsequently being elected in her own right in 1982. In the 1986 general election, she defeated former Lincoln Mayor Helen Boosalis in the first U.S. gubernatorial election in which both major party candidates were women, winning by a 53% to 47% margin.

Orr was the first Republican woman to be elected Governor in the United States,^[2] although a Republican woman, Vesta M. Roy, served as the unelected Acting Governor of New Hampshire from December 1982 to January 1983. To date, she is the only woman to have served as governor of Nebraska.^[3]

1990 election and beyond

Orr was narrowly defeated for re-election as Governor in 1990 by conservative Democrat Ben Nelson. The two main attacks on her gubernatorial record that Nelson pursued were her support of a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump and her having raised taxes in the state.

During the 2004 presidential election, Orr cast one of Nebraska's five electoral votes for George W. Bush.

References

External links

• Governor Orr's papers at the Nebraska State Historical Society