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, the incumbent Lieutenant Governor, and independent candidate Bernie Sanders, the mayor of Burlington, Vermont's largest city. Since no candidate won a majority of the popular vote, Kunin was elected by the Vermont General Assembly per the state constitution.
This was the first time since 1912 that none of the candidates received a majority of the vote. 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.
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