The 1986 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate. Held on November 4, in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term, the 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. The Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on President Ronald Reagan's coattails in 1980. Democrats won a net of eight seats, defeating seven freshman incumbents, picking up two Republican-held open seats, and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since January 1981. This remains the most recent midterm election cycle in which the sitting president's party suffered net losses while still flipping a Senate seat.

Democrats gained a net eight seats, and recaptured control of the Senate from the Republicans with a 55–45 majority. They defeated seven incumbents, all but one of whom had been elected in 1980, and gained open seats held by retiring Republicans in Maryland and Nevada. Republicans gained one open seat in Missouri. Bob Dole (R-Kansas) and Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia) exchanged positions as the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader. However, the Democratic majority would be reduced to 54-46 following the March 1987 death of Democrat Edward Zorinsky, who was then replaced with a Republican.

This was the last election cycle until 2016 in which the Democrats had a net gain in the Class 3 seats.

Results summary + ↓ 55 45 Democratic Republican

Shading indicates party with largest share of that line. Parties Total Democratic Republican Independent Libertarian Other Last elections (1984)Before these elections 47 53 0 0 0 100 Not up 35 31 — — — 66 Up 12 22 — — — 34 Incumbent retired 3 3 — — — 6 2 1 — — — 3 2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican — — — 3 Result 4 2 0 0 0 6 Incumbent ran 9 19 — — — 28 9 12 — — — 21 7 Republicans replaced by 7 Democrats — — — 7 0 0 — — — 0 Result 16 12 0 0 0 28 Total elected 20 14 0 0 0 34 Net gain/loss 8 8 8 Nationwide vote 24,347,369 23,126,219 155,032 104,338 878,047 48,611,005 Share 50.09% 47.57% 0.32% 0.21% 1.81% 100% Result 55 45 0 0 0 100

Source: Office of the Clerk

Gains, losses, and holds Retirements Three Republicans and three Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election.

StateSenator Age at end of term AssumedofficeReplaced by Arizona 78 1969 Colorado 50 1975 Louisiana 68 1948 Maryland 64 1969 Missouri 57 1968 Nevada 64 1974

Defeats Seven Republicans sought re-election but lost in the general election, including one that simultaneously lost in a special election.

StateSenator AssumedofficeReplaced by Alabama 1981 Florida 1981 Georgia 1981 North Carolina 1986 North Dakota 1981 South Dakota 1981 Washington 1981

Post-election changes One Democrat died on March 6, 1987, and a Republican was appointed on March 11, 1987.

StateSenatorReplaced by Nebraska(Class 1)

Change in composition Before the elections

D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R Majority → R R R R R & R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

After the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R R R D D D D & R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Beginning of the first session D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R R R R D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key D Democratic R Republican

Race summary

Special election In this special election, the winner was seated during 1986.

State Incumbent Result Candidates Senator Party Electoral history North Carolina(Class 3) Jim Broyhill Republican 1986 Interim appointee lost election to finish term.New senator elected November 8, 1986.Democratic gain.Winner also elected to the next term; see below.

Elections leading to the next Congress In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1987; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

State Incumbent Result Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Alabama Republican 1980 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. Alaska Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Arizona Republican 195219581964 196819741980 Incumbent retired.Republican hold. Arkansas Democratic 19741980 Incumbent re-elected. California Democratic 196819741980 Incumbent re-elected. Colorado Democratic 19741980 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Connecticut Democratic 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Florida Republican 1980 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. Georgia Republican 1980 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. Hawaii Democratic 1962196819741980 Incumbent re-elected. Idaho Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Illinois Democratic 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Indiana Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Iowa Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Kansas Republican 196819741980 Incumbent re-elected. Kentucky Democratic 19741980 Incumbent re-elected. Louisiana Democratic 1948 195019561962196819741980 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Maryland Republican 196819741980 Incumbent retired.Democratic gain. Missouri Democratic 196819741980 Incumbent retired.Republican gain. Nevada Republican 19741980 Incumbent retired.Democratic gain. New Hampshire Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. New York Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. North Carolina Republican 1986 Interim appointee lost election.Democratic gain.Winner was also elected to finish the current term; see above. North Dakota Republican 1980 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic-NPL gain. Ohio Democratic 19741974 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Oklahoma Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. Oregon Republican 196819741980 Incumbent re-elected. Pennsylvania Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected. South Carolina Democratic 1966 196819741980 Incumbent re-elected. South Dakota Republican 1980 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. Utah Republican 19741980 Incumbent re-elected. Vermont Democratic 19741980 Incumbent re-elected. Washington Republican 1980 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain. Wisconsin Republican 1980 Incumbent re-elected.

Closest races

In sixteen races the margin of victory was under 10%.

State Party of winner Margin Alabama Democratic (flip) 0.56% North Dakota Democratic (flip) 0.73% California Democratic 1.42% Colorado Democratic 1.55% North Carolina (special) Democratic (flip) 1.76% Georgia Democratic (flip) 1.83% Washington Democratic (flip) 1.99% Idaho Republican 3.11% South Dakota Democratic (flip) 3.21% North Carolina (regular) Democratic (flip) 3.54% Wisconsin Republican 3.54% Missouri Republican (flip) 5.28% Nevada Democratic (flip) 5.48% Louisiana Democratic 5.64% Florida Democratic (flip) 9.48% Alaska Republican 9.93%

Alabama

Incumbent Republican Jeremiah Denton ran for a second term but lost to Democrat Richard Shelby.

Shelby, a moderate-to-conservative Democrat avoided a primary runoff and won nomination in the Democratic Party primary over Jim Allen Jr., son of former senator James Allen.

Incumbent Senator Jeremiah Denton, a retired Rear Admiral and decorated Vietnam War veteran who six years earlier became the first Republican elected to the Senate from Alabama since Reconstruction, won the Republican primary with little opposition from Richard Vickers.

Shelby won a very narrow victory over Denton (less than one percent), once again making Alabama's Senate delegation entirely Democratic.

Alaska

Incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski ran for a second term and was primarily opposed by Democrat and Alaska Pacific University President Glenn Olds and Libertarian Chuck House, field representative for Eastman Kodak Company. Following a highly competitive election in 1980, Murkowski faced a legitimate opponent in Olds, and the contest was fairly close throughout the campaign. However, in the end, Murkowski was able to defeat Olds 63%-25% in the open primary. He won 54%-44% against Olds in the runoff.

Arizona

Incumbent Republican Barry Goldwater decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. The open seat was won by Republican John McCain, a Congressman and former Navy Officer who beat Democratic State Legislator Richard Kimball. Both candidates were unopposed in their respective primaries.

Kimball's campaign was subject to negative press from the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette. One Gazette columnist described him as displaying "terminal weirdness."Nowicki, D. & Muller, B. (March 1, 2007). The Senate calls. The Arizona Republic. Retrieved September 16, 2007. McCain ultimately won the election by a margin of 20%, and he would go on to win six more terms to the U.S. Senate.

Arkansas

Incumbent Democrat Dale Bumpers won re-election to a third term over Republican U.S. Attorney Asa Hutchinson. Both ran unopposed in their respective primaries.

California

Incumbent Democratic Alan Cranston won re-nomination over nominal Democratic opposition. Congressman Ed Zschau narrowly defeated Bruce Herschensohn in the Republican primary to secure the nomination. Cranston narrowly won re-election to a fourth term over Zschau, 49%-48%.

Colorado

Incumbent Democrat Gary Hart retired instead of seeking a third term. Democratic nominee Tim Wirth and Republican Ken Kramer ran unopposed for the seat. In an ultimately very close election, Wirth defeated Kramer by just under 2%. Wirth would retire and opt not to seek a second term.

Connecticut

Incumbent Democrat Chris Dodd received the Democratic nomination with no opposition. Republican Roger Eddy of the Republican National Committee won the Republican nomination. Dodd handily defeated Eddy, 65%-35%.

Florida

Incumbent Republican Paula Hawkins won renomination with nominal opposition, but so did her Democratic opponent, popular Governor of Florida Bob Graham. Graham defeated Hawkins by nearly 9% on election day.

Georgia

Incumbent Republican Mack Mattingly decided to run for re-election and lost a close race to Democratic U.S. Congressman Wyche Fowler, who had defeated former White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan in the Democratic primary. Fowler would lose re-election in 1992.

Hawaii

Incumbent Democratic Daniel Inouye won re-election to a fifth term, 74%-26%, over Republican Frank Hutchinson, who had defeated Marvin Franklin in the Republican primary.

Idaho

Incumbent Republican Steve Symms won re-election to a second term over Democratic Governor John V. Evans. Evans was a popular governor, and the race was ultimately close, but Symms prevailed by just over 2%.

Illinois

The incumbent Democratic Alan J. Dixon won re-election to a second term over Republican State Representative Judy Koehler, who won the Republican nomination over George Ranney. This was also the last time until 2022 that a winning Senate Candidate was elected to this seat twice.

Dixon easily won the senate race. Koehler fared poorly throughout most parts of the state, only winning 10 of the states 102 counties.

Indiana

Incumbent Republican Dan Quayle won re-election to a second term over Democratic Valparaiso City Councilwoman Jill L. Long.

Iowa

Incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley ran for re-election to a second term, which he won easily over Democratic nominee John P. Roehrick, an attorney.

Kansas

Incumbent Republican Bob Dole ran for re-election to a fourth term, which he won easily over Democratic nominee Guy MacDonald, a school teacher, who had narrowly prevailed in a crowded field of Democratic candidates.

Kentucky

Democrat Wendell Ford won re-election, He defeated Republican Jackson Andrews, who emerged from a competitive primary.

Louisiana