| Election Name: | 1986 United States Senate election in Alabama |
| Country: | Alabama |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1980 United States Senate election in Alabama |
| Previous Year: | 1980 |
| Next Election: | 1992 United States Senate election in Alabama |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
| Election Date: | November 4, 1986 |
| Image1: | Richard Shelby 97th Congress 1981.jpg |
| Nominee1: | Richard Shelby |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 609,360 |
| Percentage1: | 50.28% |
| Nominee2: | Jeremiah Denton |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 602,537 |
| Percentage2: | 49.72% |
| Map Size: | 250px |
| U.S. Senator | |
| Before Election: | Jeremiah Denton |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Richard Shelby |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
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.
Incumbent Senator Jeremiah Denton, a retired Rear Admiral and decorated Vietnam War veteran who six years earlier became the first Republican elected to the Senate from Alabama since Reconstruction, won the primary with little opposition.
Shelby, a moderate-to-conservative Democrat narrowly avoided a runoff and won nomination in the Democratic Party primary.[1]
Shelby won a very narrow victory of less than one percent over Denton.[2]