The 1990 Kansas gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Republican Governor Mike Hayden lost re-election to Democratic nominee Joan Finney. The State Treasurer at the time, Finney was elected governor over Hayden in 1990, giving Hayden the distinction of being the first incumbent governor of any state to lose to a woman. In addition to being Kansas's first female governor, she was Kansas' oldest governor at the age of 65 until Laura Kelly took office at the age of 68 in 2019, Kansas' first Roman Catholic Governor, and one of the few anti-abortion Democratic Governors at the time.