United States Senate elections, 1986

United States Senate elections, 1986

1984 ← November 4, 1986 → 1988

34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Robert Byrd Bob Dole Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat West Virginia Kansas Last election 47 seats 53 seats Seats won 55 45 Seat change 8 -8 Popular vote 24,347,369 23,126,219 Percentage 50.1% 47.6% Swing 0.3% 1.7%

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election Bob Dole Republican Elected Majority Leader Robert Byrd Democratic

The U.S. Senate election, 1986 was an election for the United States Senate in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term. As in most midterm elections, the opposition Democratic Party held the usual advantage. In this election, 34 seats in the Senate were up for election in 34 of the 50 states, corresponding to the Constitutional rule that about one-third of the Senators must be elected every two year to fill their six-year terms. Also, the Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on Reagan's coattails in 1980.

Contents 1 Results summary 2 Democratic gains 3 Republican gain 4 Incumbents who lost re-election 5 Prominent freshmen 6 Subsequent action 7 Complete list of races 8 Senate composition before and after elections 9 See also

Results summary

Parties		Last election: 1984	Before this election	Not Up	Up	Incumbent retired		Incumbent ran			Summary					Popular Vote		Result
						Held by same party	Replaced by other party	Won re-election	Lost re-election	Lost renomination, but held by same party	Total Won	Total Lost	Total Picked-up	Change	Elected	Votes	Share
	Democratic	47	47	35	12	2	1	9	0	0	11	1	9	8	20	24,347,369	50.1%	55
	Republican	53	53	31	22	1	2	12	7	0	13	9	1	8	14	23,126,219	47.6%	45
	Other	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		0	1,137,417	2.3%	0
Total		100	100	66	34	3	3	21	7	0	24	9	10		34	48,611,005	100%	100

Democratic gains

In this Senate election, the Democrats gained a net of eight seats, and recaptured control of the Senate from the Republicans with a 55 - 45 majority. Robert Dole (R-Kansas) and Robert C. Byrd (D-West Virginia) exchanged positions as the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader.

This was the last election — up through the present — in which the Democrats in this Class of Senators (1/3 of the Senate) amassed a gain in seats (not including special elections held in off-years in some states to fill the seats that had been vacated by Senators due to death, resignation, or otherwise).

Republican gain

The only win by the Republican Party was for one "open seat" in Missouri. On the other hand, the Democratic Party won the "open seats" in Maryland and Nevada, and the Democrats also defeated seven incumbent Republican Senators, six of them who were first-term senators who had been elected in 1980.

Incumbents who lost re-election

• Jeremiah Denton (R-Alabama)
• Paula Hawkins (R-Florida)
• Mack Mattingly (R-Georgia)
• James T. Broyhill (R-North Carolina). Broyhill was the only Republican who was defeated who had not been elected for the first time in 1980. However, Broyhill had been appointed to the seat that had been left vacant by the death of John P. East, a Republican who had been elected in 1980.
• Mark Andrews (R-North Dakota)
• James Abdnor (R-South Dakota)
• Slade Gorton (R-Washington).

Prominent freshmen

• John McCain (R-Arizona), future Presidential candidate, elected to the seat left by the retirement of Barry Goldwater
• Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota), the future Senate Majority Leader , who retook George McGovern's former Senate seat from Senator Abdnor
• Harry Reid (D-Nevada), future Senate Majority Leader

Subsequent action

During 1987, Edward Zorinsky (D-Nebraska) had died and had been replaced by David K. Karnes (R-Nebraska). This result has not been included in these summaries and totals.

Complete list of races

A bolded state name indicates an article about that state's election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Other candidates
Alabama	Jeremiah Denton	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election, 49.1% Democratic gain	Richard Shelby (Democratic) 50.9%
Alaska	Frank Murkowski	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 54.0%	Glenn Olds (Democratic) 44.1% Chuck House (Libertarian) 1.7%
Arizona	Barry Goldwater	Republican	Incumbent retired Republican hold	John McCain (Republican) 60.6% Richard Kimball (Democratic) 39.4%
Arkansas	Dale Bumpers	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 62.9%	Asa Hutchinson (Republican) 37.1%
California	Alan Cranston	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 49.3%	Ed Zschau (Republican) 47.8% Breck McKinley (Libertarian) 1.5% Edward B. "Ed" Vallen (American Ind.) 0.9% Andrew R. "Paul" Kangas (Peace & Freedom) 0.5%
Colorado	Gary Hart	Democratic	Incumbent retired Democratic hold	Tim Wirth (Democratic) 49.9% Ken Kramer (Republican) 48.4% Michael Bush (Independent) 1.0% Michael Chamberlain (Socialist Workers) 0.4% Henry Olshaw (Unaffiliated American) 0.2% Calvin Dodge (Prohibition) 0.1%
Connecticut	Chris Dodd	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 64.8%	Roger W. Eddy (Republican) 34.8% Edward McCallum (Independent) 0.4%
Florida	Paula Hawkins	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election, 45% Democratic gain	Bob Graham (Democratic) 55%
Georgia	Mack Mattingly	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election, 49.1% Democratic gain	Wyche Fowler (Democratic) 50.9%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 73.6%	Frank Hutchinson (Republican) 26.4%
Idaho	Steve Symms	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 51.4%	John V. Evans (Democratic) 48.6%
Illinois	Alan J. Dixon	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 65.4%	Judy Koehler (Republican) 34.1%
Indiana	Dan Quayle	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 61.1%	Jill L. Long (Democratic) 38.9%
Iowa	Chuck Grassley	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 66.0%	John P. Roehrick (Democratic) 34.0%
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 70.1%	Guy MacDonald (Democratic) 29.9%
Kentucky	Wendell H. Ford	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 74.3%	Jackson M. Andrews (Republican) 25.7%
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Incumbent retired Democratic hold	John Breaux (Democratic) 52.8% Henson Moore (Republican) 47.2%
Maryland	Charles Mathias, Jr.	Republican	Incumbent retired Democratic gain	Barbara Mikulski (Democratic) 60.8% Linda Chavez (Republican) 39.2%
Missouri	Thomas Eagleton	Democratic	Incumbent retired Republican gain	Kit Bond (Republican) 52.6% Harriett Woods (Democratic) 47.4%
Nevada	Paul Laxalt	Republican	Incumbent retired Democratic gain	Harry Reid (Democratic) 50.0% James David Santini (Republican) 44.5% Kent Cromwell (Libertarian) 1.9%
New Hampshire	Warren Rudman	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 62.9%	Endicott Peabody (Democratic) 32.4% Gruce Valley (Independent) 4.7%
New York	Al D'Amato	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 57.7%	Mark J. Green (Democratic) 40.9% John S. Dyson (Liberal) 1.4% Fred Newman (New Alliance) 0.3% Michael Shur (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
North Carolina (Special)	Jim Broyhill	Republican	Interim appointee lost election to finish term, 49.1% Democratic gain	Terry Sanford (Democratic) 50.9%
North Carolina (General)			Interim appointee lost election to the next term, 48.2% Democratic gain	Terry Sanford (Democratic) 51.8
North Dakota	Mark Andrews	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election, 49.0% Democratic gain	Kent Conrad (Democratic) 49.8%
Ohio	John Glenn	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 62.4%	Thomas N. Kindress (Republican) 37.6%
Oklahoma	Don Nickles	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 54.5%	James Robert Jones (Democratic) 45.5%
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 63.5%	Rick Bauman (Democratic) 36.5%
Pennsylvania	Arlen Specter	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 56.9%	Robert W. Edgar (Democratic) 43.1%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 63.9%	Henry D. McMaster (Republican) 36.1%
South Dakota	James Abdnor	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election, 48.3% Democratic gain	Tom Daschle (Democratic) 51.7%
Utah	Jake Garn	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 72.3%	Craig Oliver (Democratic) 26.6% Hugh A. Butler (Libertarian) 0.7% Mary Zins (Independent) 0.4%
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 63.7%	Richard A. Snelling (Republican) 34.7%
Washington	Slade Gorton	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election, 48.7% Democratic gain	Brock Adams (Democratic) 50.6% Jill Fein (Socialist Workers) 0.7%
Wisconsin	Bob Kasten	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 51.8%	Ed Garvey (Democratic) 48.2%

Senate composition before and after elections

Senate 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 R R R D D D 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 R R R R R R R R R R

Senate composition in the next Congress 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 D 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 R R R R R

Key:	D=Democratic	R=Republican
	Majority
	divider

See also

• United States House elections, 1986
• United States gubernatorial elections, 1986

United States Senate elections Pre-17th Amendment 1788 1790 1792 1794 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 Post-17th Amendment 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Others: Special elections Disputes See also: House elections Presidential elections Gubernatorial elections

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