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.

Madeleine Kunin is a Swiss-born American diplomat, author and politician. She served as the 77th governor of Vermont from 1985 until 1991, as a member of the Democratic Party. She also served as United States Ambassador to Switzerland from 1996 to 1999. She was Vermont's first and, to date, only female governor as well as the first Jewish governor of Vermont. She was also the first Jewish woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state. Kunin is currently a James Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont.