The Dole family

A Washington power couple: a Kansas senator and 1996 presidential nominee, and a North Carolina senator and cabinet secretary.
Kansas · North Carolina · President · Senate · House
Combined career popular votes
84,634,538
Combined electoral votes
399
Members on the ballot
2
Combined W–L
10–3
Years on the ballot
1960–2008

Bob Dole led Kansas in the Senate for nearly three decades, ran as the 1976 Republican vice-presidential nominee, and was the party’s 1996 presidential nominee. His wife, Elizabeth Dole, served in two presidential cabinets and was elected U.S. senator from North Carolina, making the Doles one of the few couples to each build a national career.

The Dole family members, ranked by career popular votes
MemberOfficesYearsCareer popular votesRecord
Bob DoleRPresident · Senate · House1960–199681,498,36492
Elizabeth H. DoleRSenate2002–20083,136,17411

How this is measured

Combined career popular votes are summed across the 2 family members we track, each counted once across every presidential, U.S. Senate, governor, and U.S. House election in our data. Family membership is hand-curated and verified against primary sources, never matched by surname alone, so unrelated namesakes are never folded in. A vote for a presidential ticket counts for both the president and the vice-presidential candidate, matching how each profile reports its own totals.

Compiled by PolitiFinder · published June 14, 2026 · sources: Data & sources.