1986 Michigan gubernatorial election

1986 Michigan gubernatorial election
← 1982 November 4, 1986 1990 →
	Blanchard: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90%; Lucas: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%
Governor before election; James J. Blanchard; Democratic	Elected Governor ; James J. Blanchard; Democratic

The 1986 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1986. Democratic incumbent James J. Blanchard won reelection in a landslide over Republican William Lucas. Blanchard carried every county in the state except for Ottawa County, which as of 2026, has not voted Democratic since 1890.

This was the most recent election in which a male Democrat was elected governor of Michigan.

Primary election

Michigan held primary elections on August 5, 1986.

Democratic party

Incumbent governor James J. Blanchard won renomination against token opposition.

Candidates

James J. Blanchard, incumbent governor
Henry Wilson, follower of Lyndon LaRouche^[1]^[2]

Results

Democratic primary results^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James J. Blanchard (inc.)	428,125	93.66%
	Democratic	Henry Wilson	28,940	6.33%
	Democratic	Scattering	22	0.01%
Total votes			457,087	100.00%

Republican party

Wayne County executive William Lucas made history by being the first African American nominee for either major party for Governor of Michigan.

Candidates

Dick Chrysler, automotive businessman
Colleen Engler, member of Michigan House of Representatives
William Lucas, Wayne County Executive
Dan Murphy, Oakland County Executive^[4]^[2]

Results

Republican primary results^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Lucas	259,153	44.50%
	Republican	Dick Chrysler	198,174	34.03%
	Republican	Colleen Engler	63,927	10.98%
	Republican	Dan Murphy	61,073	10.49%
	Republican	Scattering	10	0.00%
Total votes			582,337	100.00%

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates

James J. Blanchard & Martha Griffiths, Democratic
William Lucas & Colleen Engler, Republican

Other candidates

Martin P. McLaughlin & Alva A. Crivens, Workers League

Results

1986 Michigan gubernatorial election^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	James J. Blanchard (inc.)	1,632,138	68.10%	+16.75%
	Republican	William Lucas	753,647	31.45%	−13.60%
	Workers League	Martin P. McLaughlin	9,477	0.40%	+0.33%
		Scattering	1,302	0.05%
Majority			878,491	36.66%
Total votes			2,396,564	100.00%
	Democratic hold		Swing	+30.35%

Results by county

By sweeping all but one county, Blanchard ended a number of very long streaks of Republican dominance in counties across the state. As of 2026, this election is the only one in which Antrim County and Charlevoix County have voted Democratic. This was also the first time Benzie County voted Democratic since its organization in 1869; however, unlike the aforementioned two counties, it has subsequently voted Democratic.^[a] Other notable flips were Van Buren County voting Democratic for the first time since 1852 and Allegan County and Sanilac County doing the same for the first time since 1854. This election was one of only two instances of Wexford County voting Democratic.^[b]

As of the 2026, this is the last election in which the Democratic candidate has won any of the following counties: Allegan, Antrim, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet, Hillsdale, Huron, Kalkaska, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Mecosta, Missaukee, Montmorency, Newaygo, Osceola, Oscoda, Otsego, St. Clair, St. Joseph, Sanilac, and Wexford.

County^[5]	James J. Blanchard Democratic		William Lucas Republican		Martin P. McLaughlin Workers League		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast
County^[5]	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Alcona	2,186	65.74%	1,132	34.05%	5	0.15%	2	0.06%	1,054	31.70%	3,325
Alger	2,080	76.08%	651	23.81%	3	0.11%	0	0.00%	1,429	52.27%	2,734
Allegan	10,875	53.61%	9,351	46.09%	56	0.28%	5	0.02%	1,524	7.51%	20,287
Alpena	5,684	68.22%	2,632	31.59%	14	0.17%	2	0.02%	3,052	36.63%	8,332
Antrim	3,819	67.46%	1,816	32.08%	26	0.46%	0	0.00%	2,003	35.38%	5,661
Arenac	3,199	77.25%	927	22.39%	15	0.36%	0	0.00%	2,272	54.87%	4,141
Baraga	1,674	71.45%	666	28.43%	3	0.13%	0	0.00%	1,008	43.02%	2,343
Barry	7,846	63.76%	4,392	35.69%	53	0.43%	14	0.11%	3,454	28.07%	12,305
Bay	24,590	75.07%	8,048	24.57%	112	0.34%	8	0.02%	16,542	50.50%	32,758
Benzie	2,496	65.98%	1,277	33.76%	7	0.19%	3	0.08%	1,219	32.22%	3,783
Berrien	21,640	60.79%	13,765	38.67%	193	0.54%	0	0.00%	7,875	22.12%	35,598
Branch	5,723	60.26%	3,748	39.47%	23	0.24%	3	0.03%	1,975	20.80%	9,497
Calhoun	25,989	72.66%	9,608	26.86%	159	0.44%	10	0.03%	16,381	45.80%	35,766
Cass	6,697	65.53%	3,497	34.22%	26	0.25%	0	0.00%	3,200	31.31%	10,220
Charlevoix	4,515	68.92%	1,972	30.10%	64	0.98%	0	0.00%	2,543	38.82%	6,551
Cheboygan	4,881	74.17%	1,685	25.60%	15	0.23%	0	0.00%	3,196	48.56%	6,581
Chippewa	5,997	72.62%	2,245	27.19%	16	0.19%	0	0.00%	3,752	45.43%	8,258
Clare	5,390	71.90%	2,034	27.13%	71	0.95%	2	0.03%	3,356	44.76%	7,497
Clinton	10,010	63.98%	5,552	35.49%	39	0.25%	44	0.28%	4,458	28.49%	15,645
Crawford	2,079	65.69%	1,060	33.49%	24	0.76%	2	0.06%	1,019	32.20%	3,165
Delta	7,763	72.42%	2,930	27.33%	26	0.24%	0	0.00%	4,833	45.09%	10,719
Dickinson	5,602	72.72%	2,081	27.02%	20	0.26%	0	0.00%	3,521	45.71%	7,703
Eaton	16,448	66.05%	8,345	33.51%	111	0.45%	0	0.00%	8,103	32.54%	24,904
Emmet	4,733	65.53%	2,454	33.97%	35	0.48%	1	0.01%	2,279	31.55%	7,223
Genesee	89,778	79.00%	23,155	20.38%	662	0.58%	49	0.04%	66,623	58.62%	113,644
Gladwin	4,535	73.30%	1,609	26.01%	43	0.70%	0	0.00%	2,926	47.29%	6,187
Gogebic	5,350	82.89%	1,100	17.04%	4	0.06%	0	0.00%	4,250	65.85%	6,454
Grand Traverse	11,232	62.96%	6,578	36.87%	25	0.14%	6	0.03%	4,654	26.09%	17,841
Gratiot	7,092	69.83%	3,034	29.87%	28	0.28%	2	0.02%	4,058	39.96%	10,156
Hillsdale	6,044	58.51%	4,255	41.19%	31	0.30%	0	0.00%	1,789	17.32%	10,330
Houghton	6,331	69.67%	2,739	30.14%	17	0.19%	0	0.00%	3,592	39.53%	9,087
Huron	6,750	66.55%	3,373	33.25%	19	0.19%	1	0.01%	3,377	33.29%	10,143
Ingham	52,054	69.93%	21,536	28.93%	551	0.74%	297	0.40%	30,518	41.00%	74,438
Ionia	8,358	66.85%	4,072	32.57%	50	0.40%	22	0.18%	4,286	34.28%	12,502
Iosco	5,516	72.85%	2,029	26.80%	24	0.32%	3	0.04%	3,487	46.05%	7,572
Iron	3,491	73.51%	1,250	26.32%	8	0.17%	0	0.00%	2,241	47.19%	4,749
Isabella	8,325	66.08%	4,205	33.38%	65	0.52%	4	0.03%	4,120	32.70%	12,599
Jackson	23,899	65.47%	12,358	33.85%	212	0.58%	37	0.10%	11,541	31.61%	36,506
Kalamazoo	36,817	66.65%	18,209	32.96%	190	0.34%	22	0.04%	18,608	33.69%	55,238
Kalkaska	2,425	67.25%	1,168	32.39%	13	0.36%	0	0.00%	1,257	34.86%	3,606
Kent	70,754	56.78%	53,233	42.72%	625	0.50%	9	0.01%	17,521	14.06%	124,621
Keweenaw	731	75.36%	239	24.64%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	492	50.72%	970
Lake	1,887	74.32%	623	24.54%	27	1.06%	2	0.08%	1,264	49.78%	2,539
Lapeer	11,414	65.07%	5,980	34.09%	137	0.78%	9	0.05%	5,434	30.98%	17,540
Leelanau	3,360	59.27%	2,291	40.41%	9	0.16%	9	0.16%	1,069	18.86%	5,669
Lenawee	13,846	66.13%	7,043	33.64%	42	0.20%	7	0.03%	6,803	32.49%	20,938
Livingston	17,119	61.18%	10,625	37.97%	148	0.53%	91	0.33%	6,494	23.21%	27,983
Luce	1,314	77.29%	382	22.47%	4	0.24%	0	0.00%	932	54.82%	1,700
Mackinac	2,829	73.92%	989	25.84%	9	0.24%	0	0.00%	1,840	48.08%	3,827
Macomb	128,120	68.03%	59,315	31.49%	770	0.41%	136	0.07%	68,805	36.53%	188,341
Manistee	4,995	71.81%	1,939	27.88%	22	0.32%	0	0.00%	3,056	43.93%	6,956
Marquette	13,775	79.15%	3,578	20.56%	51	0.29%	0	0.00%	10,197	58.59%	17,404
Mason	5,291	66.79%	2,556	32.26%	72	0.91%	3	0.04%	2,735	34.52%	7,922
Mecosta	6,070	65.57%	3,161	34.15%	20	0.22%	6	0.06%	2,909	31.42%	9,257
Menominee	3,949	65.01%	2,117	34.85%	8	0.13%	0	0.00%	1,832	30.16%	6,074
Midland	15,458	63.49%	8,758	35.97%	116	0.48%	14	0.06%	6,700	27.52%	24,346
Missaukee	2,229	56.86%	1,663	42.42%	28	0.71%	0	0.00%	566	14.44%	3,920
Monroe	20,126	72.04%	7,750	27.74%	60	0.21%	3	0.01%	12,376	44.30%	27,939
Montcalm	7,323	64.75%	3,951	34.93%	34	0.30%	2	0.02%	3,372	29.81%	11,310
Montmorency	2,127	69.62%	921	30.15%	7	0.23%	0	0.00%	1,206	39.48%	3,055
Muskegon	29,257	71.96%	11,269	27.72%	131	0.32%	1	0.00%	17,988	44.24%	40,658
Newaygo	5,742	61.25%	3,601	38.41%	32	0.34%	0	0.00%	2,141	22.84%	9,375
Oakland	176,065	61.72%	108,104	37.90%	881	0.31%	215	0.08%	67,961	23.82%	285,265
Oceana	4,230	69.21%	1,856	30.37%	21	0.34%	5	0.08%	2,374	38.84%	6,112
Ogemaw	4,346	74.88%	1,444	24.88%	12	0.21%	2	0.03%	2,902	50.00%	5,804
Ontonagon	2,368	76.09%	738	23.71%	6	0.19%	0	0.00%	1,630	52.38%	3,112
Osceola	3,694	63.21%	2,129	36.43%	20	0.34%	1	0.02%	1,565	26.78%	5,844
Oscoda	1,347	61.62%	827	37.83%	12	0.55%	0	0.00%	520	23.79%	2,186
Otsego	3,046	66.74%	1,498	32.82%	20	0.44%	0	0.00%	1,548	33.92%	4,564
Ottawa	20,870	44.41%	26,018	55.37%	104	0.22%	0	0.00%	-5,148	-10.96%	46,992
Presque Isle	3,761	72.52%	1,394	26.88%	31	0.60%	0	0.00%	2,367	45.64%	5,186
Roscommon	5,486	72.44%	2,072	27.36%	15	0.20%	0	0.00%	3,414	45.08%	7,573
Saginaw	46,700	75.65%	14,685	23.79%	344	0.56%	4	0.01%	32,015	51.86%	61,733
Sanilac	7,101	64.69%	3,849	35.06%	25	0.23%	2	0.02%	3,252	29.63%	10,977
Schoolcraft	1,772	77.21%	521	22.70%	2	0.09%	0	0.00%	1,251	54.51%	2,295
Shiawassee	14,630	71.49%	5,730	28.00%	84	0.41%	19	0.09%	8,900	43.49%	20,463
St. Clair	23,544	66.78%	11,555	32.78%	155	0.44%	0	0.00%	11,989	34.01%	35,254
St. Joseph	7,688	61.12%	4,859	38.63%	31	0.25%	0	0.00%	2,829	22.49%	12,578
Tuscola	9,453	70.38%	3,933	29.28%	46	0.34%	0	0.00%	5,520	41.10%	13,432
Van Buren	10,560	67.07%	5,127	32.56%	56	0.36%	2	0.01%	5,433	34.51%	15,745
Washtenaw	49,066	70.33%	20,226	28.99%	445	0.64%	27	0.04%	28,840	41.34%	69,764
Wayne	393,785	73.49%	140,140	26.15%	1,744	0.33%	191	0.04%	253,645	47.33%	535,860
Wexford	4,997	67.23%	2,420	32.56%	13	0.17%	3	0.04%	2,577	34.67%	7,433
Total	1,632,138	68.10%	753,647	31.45%	9,477	0.40%	1,302	0.05%	878,491	36.66%	2,396,564

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Notes

↑ In 2006 and 2022.
↑ The other was in 1912.

References

↑ Hornbeck, Mark (July 27, 1986). "Henry Wilson, D, Detroit". Kalamazoo Gazette. Kalamazoo. p. B3. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
1 2 "Voters' Guide". The Flint Journal. Flint. August 3, 1986. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
1 2 "Official Canvass of Votes, Primary Election, August 5, 1986". Michigan Manual 1987-1988. Lansing: Michigan Department of Management and Budget. 1987. pp. 432–433.
↑ Hornbeck, Mark (July 27, 1986). "Dan Murphy, R, Oakland County". Kalamazoo Gazette. Kalamazoo. p. B3. Retrieved June 13, 2026.
1 2 "Official Canvass of Votes, General Election, November 4, 1986". Michigan Manual 1987-1988. Lansing: Michigan Department of Management and Budget. 1987. pp. 486–487.

[6] In 2006 and 2022.

[7] The other was in 1912.

[1] Hornbeck, Mark (July 27, 1986). "Henry Wilson, D, Detroit". Kalamazoo Gazette. Kalamazoo. p. B3. Retrieved June 13, 2026.

[candidates-2] 1 2 "Voters' Guide". The Flint Journal. Flint. August 3, 1986. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2026.

[primary-3] 1 2 "Official Canvass of Votes, Primary Election, August 5, 1986". Michigan Manual 1987-1988. Lansing: Michigan Department of Management and Budget. 1987. pp. 432–433.

[4] Hornbeck, Mark (July 27, 1986). "Dan Murphy, R, Oakland County". Kalamazoo Gazette. Kalamazoo. p. B3. Retrieved June 13, 2026.

[general-5] 1 2 "Official Canvass of Votes, General Election, November 4, 1986". Michigan Manual 1987-1988. Lansing: Michigan Department of Management and Budget. 1987. pp. 486–487.

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[5]

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