diff --git a/pkg/election/lease.go b/pkg/election/lease.go
index e517ea2c11a..ee6a7e07840 100644
--- a/pkg/election/lease.go
+++ b/pkg/election/lease.go
@@ -34,6 +34,13 @@ const (
 	revokeLeaseTimeout = time.Second
 	requestTimeout     = etcdutil.DefaultRequestTimeout
 	slowRequestTime    = etcdutil.DefaultSlowRequestTime
+	// maxLeaseKeepAliveInterval caps the keepalive cadence at 500ms, decoupling
+	// renewal frequency from the configured lease timeout. etcd's clientv3
+	// keepalive uses TTL/3 with no upper bound; we deviate so that operators who
+	// raise the lease TTL (e.g. to tolerate longer GC pauses) do not also slow
+	// down PD's leader-failover reaction time. PD has only a handful of leases
+	// per cluster, so the extra RPCs at large TTLs are negligible.
+	maxLeaseKeepAliveInterval = 500 * time.Millisecond
 )
 
 // Lease is used as the low-level mechanism for campaigning and renewing elected leadership.
@@ -147,6 +154,17 @@ func (l *Lease) loadExpireTime() time.Time {
 	return expireTime
 }
 
+// getKeepAliveInterval returns the interval used to drive the keepalive ticker.
+// It takes the minimum of `leaseTimeout/3` and `maxLeaseKeepAliveInterval` so the
+// renewal cadence never gets slower as the lease timeout grows.
+func (l *Lease) getKeepAliveInterval() time.Duration {
+	interval := l.leaseTimeout / 3
+	if interval > maxLeaseKeepAliveInterval {
+		return maxLeaseKeepAliveInterval
+	}
+	return interval
+}
+
 // KeepAlive auto renews the lease and update expireTime.
 func (l *Lease) KeepAlive(ctx context.Context) {
 	defer logutil.LogPanic()
@@ -156,7 +174,7 @@ func (l *Lease) KeepAlive(ctx context.Context) {
 	}
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
 	defer cancel()
-	timeCh := l.keepAliveWorker(ctx, l.leaseTimeout/3)
+	timeCh := l.keepAliveWorker(ctx)
 	defer log.Info("lease keep alive stopped", zap.String("purpose", l.purpose))
 
 	var (
@@ -221,9 +239,10 @@ func (l *Lease) KeepAlive(ctx context.Context) {
 }
 
 // Periodically call `lease.KeepAliveOnce` and post back latest received expire time into the channel.
-func (l *Lease) keepAliveWorker(ctx context.Context, interval time.Duration) <-chan time.Time {
+func (l *Lease) keepAliveWorker(ctx context.Context) <-chan time.Time {
 	ch := make(chan time.Time)
 
+	interval := l.getKeepAliveInterval()
 	go func() {
 		defer logutil.LogPanic()
 		ticker := time.NewTicker(interval)
diff --git a/pkg/election/lease_test.go b/pkg/election/lease_test.go
index 2a1d6b827c4..b3e9ef2949d 100644
--- a/pkg/election/lease_test.go
+++ b/pkg/election/lease_test.go
@@ -112,8 +112,11 @@ func TestLeaseKeepAlive(t *testing.T) {
 	lease := NewLease(client, "test_lease")
 
 	re.NoError(lease.Grant(defaultLeaseTimeout))
-	ch := lease.keepAliveWorker(ctx, 2*time.Second)
-	time.Sleep(2 * time.Second)
-	<-ch
+	ch := lease.keepAliveWorker(ctx)
+	select {
+	case <-ch:
+	case <-time.After(2 * lease.getKeepAliveInterval()):
+		re.Fail("timed out waiting for lease keepalive")
+	}
 	re.NoError(lease.Close())
 }