1986 Vermont gubernatorial election

1986 Vermont gubernatorial election

← 1984 November 4, 1986 (1986-11-04) 1988 →
 
Nominee Madeleine Kunin Peter Smith Bernie Sanders
Party Democratic Republican Independent
Electoral vote 139 39 2
Popular vote 92,485 75,239 28,418
Percentage 47.0% 38.2% 14.4%

Kunin:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%
Smith:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%

Governor before election

Madeleine Kunin
Democratic

Elected Governor

Madeleine Kunin
Democratic

The 1986 Vermont gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1986. Incumbent Democrat Madeleine Kunin ran successfully for re-election to a second term as Governor of Vermont, defeating Republican candidate Peter Plympton Smith and independent candidate Bernie Sanders. Since no candidate won a majority of the popular vote, Kunin was elected by the Vermont General Assembly per the state constitution.[1]

This was the first time since 1912 that none of the candidates received a majority of the vote.[2] Along with Democrats' takeover of the state House for the first time in history, Democrats won a trifecta in the state for the first time ever.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference results was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Doyle 1992, p. 222.