1986 United States Senate elections

1986 United States Senate elections

← 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 since January 3, 1977 January 3, 1985 Leader's seat West Virginia Kansas Seats before 47 53 Seats after 55 45 Seat change 8 8 Popular vote 24,347,369[1] 23,126,219[a][1] Percentage 50.1% 47.6% Seats up 12 22 Races won 20 14
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      No election Rectangular inset (North Carolina): both seats up for election
Majority Leader before election Bob Dole Republican Elected Majority Leader Robert Byrd Democratic

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 in this class of senators 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).

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