The 1986 Kansas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1986. Incumbent Democratic Governor
John W. Carlin did not run for re-election. Republican nominee
Mike Hayden, then Speaker of the
Kansas House of Representatives, beat the Democratic nominee
Thomas Docking, who was then the incumbent
Lieutenant Governor of Kansas.[1] This was the last gubernatorial election in Kansas in which the winner was of the same party as the incumbent president until
Laura Kelly's victory in
2022.