1st Women’s Match-up Set for Governor in Nebraska

Democrat Helen Boosalis will face Republican state Treasurer Kay Orr in the nation’s first woman-against-woman campaign for governor, guaranteeing that the state will have its first female chief executive, election returns indicated Tuesday night.

“We’re creating a little history,” Orr said. “It’s an exciting opportunity for us to make people aware of what Nebraska’s all about.”

Although Nebraska never has had a woman governor, seven women, all Democrats, have been elected governor in other states.

Strong Lead in Polls

Boosalis, the former mayor of Lincoln, consistently led among the seven Democratic contenders in the polls. If elected governor, she would be 67 when she took office, the oldest person to be sworn in as Nebraska’s chief executive.

Large numbers of candidates in both parties were enticed into the race when Gov. Robert Kerrey announced he would not seek a second four-year term. Kerrey, a popular Democrat whose war record included the Medal of Honor, said he no longer had any desire to be governor. He did not endorse a successor.

The total of 15 candidates from both parties set a record for a gubernatorial primary, surpassing the 14 candidates who ran in 1934.

Boosalis is a former president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. She attended the University of Minnesota and served on the Lincoln City Council from 1959 to 1975. She was mayor from 1975 to 1983 and director of the Nebraska Commission on Aging from 1983 to 1986.

Orr, 47, was the first woman elected to a statewide constitutional office. A longtime fixture in the state GOP, she previously served as administrative assistant to former Republican Gov. Charles Thone.

Gibson Loses in N.J.

In other voting Tuesday, 32 New Jersey communities chose mayors. Kenneth Gibson lost a bid for an unprecedented fifth term in Newark, losing to Councilman Sharpe James.

Atlantic City Mayor James L. Usry, elected 26 months ago in a special election in which the former mayor was recalled, failed to win his first full, four-year term and will face Assemblywoman Dolores Cooper in a runoff June 10.

In West Virginia’s primary, Rep. Harley O. Staggers Jr. was easily renominated in the Democratic primary, defeating Charles Wood, a coal miner and a Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. supporter who does not live in the district, and former state Rep. D. P. Given.

“It’s a vote of confidence,” Staggers said after the victory. “It feels good.”