Richard Craig Shelby is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat who later switched to the Republican Party in 1994, he chaired the Senate Appropriations Committee from 2018 to 2021. He previously chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, and the Senate Rules Committee. He was the longest-serving U.S. senator from Alabama, surpassing John Sparkman's record in March 2019.

The 1986 United States Senate election in Alabama took place on November 4, 1986 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator Jeremiah Denton lost re-election to Democrat Richard Shelby by 6,823 votes.