Iowa's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
|
 |
November 6, 2012 |
June 5, 2012 |
Dave Loebsack  |
Dave Loebsack |
 |
 |
The 2nd Congressional District of Iowa held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Dave Loebsack won the election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Iowa has a mostly closed primary system: voters must be registered with the Democratic or Republican Party in order to vote in the primary, but they may switch their party affiliation on election day.[2]
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by May 26.[2] For the general election, the voter pre-registration deadline was October 27,[3] but voters could also register at the polls on Election Day, provided they brought proper documentation.[4]
- See also: Iowa elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election none of Iowa's current members of Congress resided in the newly-drawn 2nd District. Dave Loebsack (D) moved from Linn County, where he would have competed in a primary against Bruce Braley, to Johnson County, to continue representing the 2nd Congressional District.[5]
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Iowa's 2nd Congressional District covered most of the southeastern part of the state, including Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Decatur, Wayne, Clarke, Lucas, Monroe, Appanoose, Davis, Van Buren, Lee, Henry, Des Moines, Louisa, Muscatine, Cedar, Johnson, Cedar, Scott, Clinton, Washington, Keokuk, Mahaska, Marion, and Jasper Counties were included in this district.[6]
Candidates
General election candidates
Primary election results
|
|
|
- Note: Richard Gates (R) intended to run, but withdrew from the race on March 11, 2012.[7]
Election results
General election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Dave Loebsack Incumbent |
55.6% | 211,863 | |
| Republican | John Archer | 42.5% | 161,977 | |
| Independent | Alan Aversa | 1.9% | 7,112 | |
| Total Votes | 380,952 | |||
| Source: Iowa Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Primary Results
Democratic Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Dave Loebsack Incumbent |
81.7% | 17,467 |
| Joe Seng | 18.3% | 3,913 |
| Total Votes | 21,380 | |
Republican Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
John Archer |
60.6% | 16,604 |
| Dan Dolan | 39.4% | 10,775 |
| Total Votes | 27,379 | |
Race background
Republican challenger John Archer was included in the National Republican Congressional Committee's Young Guns program. The program highlighted challengers who represented the GOP's best chances to pick up congressional seats in the general election.[8]
Polls
Dave Loebsack v. John Archer
| Dave Loebsack vs. John Archer | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Dave Loebsack (D) | John Archer (R) | Undecided | Margin of error | Sample size | ||||||||||||||
| Des Moines Register (June 25-27, 2012) | 48% | 43% | 10% | +/-4.9 | 400 | ||||||||||||||
| Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org. | |||||||||||||||||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Iowa
Roll Call's race ratings said the 2nd District became slightly more favorable to Republicans as a result of the inclusion of Scott County but retained Democratic-leaning Johnson County.[9] The new 2nd District included Davenport and Iowa City.[10]
The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[11][12]
- 29 percent from the 1st Congressional District
- 53 percent from the 2nd Congressional District
- 16 percent from the 3rd Congressional District
- 2 percent from the 5th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 24, 2012, District 2 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the Iowa Secretary of State:
| Iowa Congressional District 2[13] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 2 | 474,023 | 165,136 | 138,989 | 169,898 | Democratic | 18.81% | -24.51% |
| "Party advantage" is the percentage gap between the two major parties in registered voters. "Change in advantage" is the spread in difference of party advantage between 2010 and 2012 based on the congressional district number only. | |||||||
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- See also: FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
In 2012, FairVote did a study on partisanship in the congressional districts, giving each a percentage ranking (D/R) based on the new 2012 maps and comparing that to the old 2010 maps. Iowa's 2nd District became less Democratic because of redistricting.[14]
- 2012: 54D / 46R
- 2010: 57D / 43R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measures each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. Iowa's 2nd Congressional District had a PVI of D+4, which was the 153rd most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 58-42 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 47-53 percent over George W. Bush (R).[15]
Issues
Media
Below are two campaign ads released by incumbent Dave Loebsack and challenger John Archer.
Dave Loebsack
Dave Loebsack, "The Problem"[16] |
John Archer
John Archer, "The Next Generation"[17] |
Campaign donors
2012
| Dave Loebsack (2012)[18] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[19] | April 15, 2012 | $451,960.55 | $210,300.97 | $(39,949.38) | $622,312.14 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[20] | May 24, 2012 | $622,312.14 | $113,399.99 | $(35,385.74) | $700,326.39 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $323,700.96 | $(75,335.12) | ||||||||
| John Archer (2012)[21] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[22] | April 15, 2012 | $73,388.59 | $71,233.42 | $(17,415.12) | $127,206.89 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[23] | May 24, 2012 | $127,206.89 | $37,980.78 | $(10,333.28) | $61,854.39 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $109,214.2 | $(27,748.4) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
|---|
 |
| Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. |
2010
On November 2, 2010, Dave Loebsack won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), Gary Sicard (L) and Jon Tack (C) in the general election.[24]
| U.S. House, Iowa District 2 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Dave Loebsack Incumbent |
51% | 115,839 | |
| Republican | Mariannette Miller-Meeks | 45.9% | 104,319 | |
| Libertarian | Gary Sicard | 1.9% | 4,356 | |
| Constitution | Jon Tack | 1.1% | 2,463 | |
| Independent | Write-In | 0.1% | 198 | |
| Total Votes | 227,175 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
External links
- John Archer's Campaign Website
- Dan Dolan's Campaign Website
- Richard Gates' Campaign Website
- Dave Loebsack's Campaign Website
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 House Race Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Election," accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Voter Pre-Registration," accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Election Day Registration," accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ The Iowa Independent, "Loebsack makes re-election hopes in new 2nd District official" accessed December 16, 2011
- ↑ Iowa Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Gates for Congress, "Lost and Found," accessed March 19, 2012
- ↑ NRCC "Young Guns 2012"
- ↑ Roll Call, "Race Ratings: Competitive Races On Tap in Iowa" accessed February 29, 2012
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Filing deadline makes official big battles in Iowa's 3rd, 4th Districts" accessed March 19, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Iowa's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Congressional Voter Registration Statistics," July 2, 2012
- ↑ , "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Iowa," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ YouTube channel
- ↑ YouTube channel
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Dave Loebsack Summary Reports" accessed July 14, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 13, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary" accessed July 13, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "John Archer Summary Reports" accessed July 13, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 13, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary" accessed July 13, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013 accessed November 5, 2011
