Michigan's 11th congressional district elections, 2012
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| November 6, 2012 |
| August 7, 2012 |
Kerry Bentivolio  |
Thaddeus McCotter |
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Republican Kerry Bentivolio won the election.[1] At the same time, Bentivolio lost the special election for the seat, which was for a six-week term during the lame-duck session. That race was won by David Curson (D) who did not run in the regular election.[2][3]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
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Primary: Michigan has an open primary system, meaning any registered voter can vote in any party's primary.
Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by July 9. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9.[4]
- See also: Michigan elections, 2012
Incumbent: Incumbent Thaddeus McCotter (R), who has represented the 11th district since 2003, did not seek re-election. He initially filed to run as a write-in candidate because he failed to collect enough signatures to earn a spot on the ballot.[5] However, on June 2, 2012, he opted to withdraw completely.[6]
In early July, McCotter announced that he would no longer serve out his term. The Detroit Free Press said that an early special election would cost Wayne and Oakland counties and the communities in the 11th Congressional District nearly $650,000. [7]
This was the first election using new district maps based on 2010 Census data. Michigan's 11th congressional district is located in the southeastern region of the lower peninsula of Michigan and includes the cities of Livonia, Canton and Westland. It includes Wayne and Oakland counties.[8]
Candidates
Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals will be added when official election results are certified. For more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan, click here. If you find any errors in this list, please email: Geoff Pallay.
General election candidates
August 7, 2012 primary results
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Note: Incumbent Thaddeus McCotter initially filed to run but did not receive sufficient signatures to qualify and later withdrew from the election completely.
Ballot access issues
In a statement released May 25, 2012, incumbent Thaddeus McCotter said the Secretary of State questioned the number of valid signatures he submitted to qualify for ballot. “I have been apprised my campaign may have submitted insufficient petition signatures to appear on the August primary ballot as a candidate for the 11th Congressional District’s Republican nomination,” he explained.[12]
Congressional candidates are required to submit at least 1,000 valid signatures, but may submit up to 2,000.[13]
The one-time Republican presidential hopeful said on May 29 that he would run as a write-in-candidate for re-election to the House. [14] The Secretary of State determined that only 244 of the signatures (13 percent) were valid.[15] He withdrew completely on June 2, 2012.
Election Results
| U.S. House, Michigan, District 11 General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Syed Taj | 44.4% | 158,879 | |
| Republican |  Kerry Bentivolio |
50.8% | 181,788 | |
| Libertarian | John Tatar | 2.7% | 9,637 | |
| Green | Steven Paul Duke | 1.3% | 4,569 | |
| NLP | Daniel Johnson | 0.9% | 3,251 | |
| Total Votes | 358,124 | |||
| Source: Michigan Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Race background
Michigan's 11th was considered to be Leaning Republican according to the New York Times race ratings. Republican incumbent Thaddeus McCotter withdrew from his re-election campaign following a scandal over petition signatures. Democrats saw an opportunity to take the district as a result.[16]
Republican challenger Kerry Bentivolio was included in the National Republican Congressional Committee's Young Guns program. The program highlighted challengers who represent the GOP's best chances to pick up congressional seats in the general election.[17]
Impact of Redistricting
- See also Redistricting in Michigan
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. Michigan's 11th District became more Republican because of redistricting.[18]
- 2012: 47D / 53R
- 2010: 51D / 49R
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. Michigan's 11th congressional district has a PVI of R+4, which is the 199th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 51-49 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 56-44 percent over John Kerry (D).[19]
Issues
Media
Below is Syed Taj's second TV campaign ad, released October 5, 2012.[20]
Syed Taj
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Campaign donors
Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are Taj and Robert's reports.
Syed Taj
| Syed Taj(2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[22] | March 31, 2012 | $88,267.39 | $68,042.67 | $(75,031.00) | $81,279.06 | ||||
| July Quarterly[23] | June 30, 2012 | $81,279.06 | $109,947.97 | $(87,429.49) | $103,797.54 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[24] | July 24, 2012 | $103,797.54 | $20,771.00 | $(46,120.03) | $78,448.51 | ||||
| October Quarterly[25] | October 15, 2012 | $78,448.51 | $169,548.93 | $(89,348.67) | $158,648.77 | ||||
| Pre-General[26] | October 25, 2012 | $158,648.77 | $120,331.15 | $(215,402.38) | $63,577.54 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $488,641.72 | $(513,331.57) | ||||||||
Kerry Bentivolio
| Kerry Bentivolio(2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
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| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[27] | March 31, 2012 | $0.00 | $120,311.26 | $(53,210.85) | $67,100.41 | ||||
| July Quarterly[28] | June 30, 2012 | $0.00 | $112,705.30 | $(21,521.52) | $91,183.78 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[29] | July 18, 2012 | $73,264.90 | $8,620.76 | $(77,435.74) | $4,449.92 | ||||
| October Quarterly[30] | October 15, 2012 | $7,655.27 | $152,820.36 | $(53,972.64) | $106,502.99 | ||||
| Pre-General[31] | October 22, 2012 | $106,502.99 | $66,846.40 | $(90,459.25) | $82,890.14 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $461,304.08 | $(296,600) | ||||||||
Race Competitiveness
In September of 2011, Roll Call pointed out that McCotter's district could be competitive "in a bad year for Republicans." [32]
McCotter's failure to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot stunned his fellow Republicans. “It’s definitely a cataclysmic event in politics for an incumbent congressman to not file sufficient signatures to get on the ballot,” Wayne County GOP Chairman Bill Runco told reporters. “I’ve never heard of it.” [33]
MSNBC reported that McCotter's misstep might open the door for Democrats to take back the 11th district. [34]
Columnist Brian Dickerson of the Detroit Free Press, however, believed that McCotter was nevertheless likely to retain his seat because the redistricting process made his seat safer. In late May, Dickerson wrote, "If the newly configured 11th were an animal, it would be a lapdog primping on the GOP candidate's lap." Dickerson adds, "In a district drawn to give any Republican nominee a 10-point head start, the name of the contestants may still matter less than the tilt of the playing field." [35]
District History
2010
On November 2, 2010, Thaddeus McCotter won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Natalie Mosher (D), and John J. Tatar (L) in the general election.[36]
| U.S. House of Representatives, Michigan's 11th Congressional District, General Election, 2010 | ||||
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| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Thaddeus McCotter Incumbent |
59.3% | 141,224 | |
| Democratic | Natalie Mosher | 38.5% | 91,710 | |
| Libertarian | John J. Tatar | 2.2% | 5,353 | |
| Total Votes | 238,287 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Michigan, 2012
External links
References
- ↑ Politico "2012 Election Map, Michigan"
- ↑ Detroit Free Press "Curson and Bentivolio both won bids for McCotter's seat," November 7, 2012
- ↑ Click On Detroit "Michigan's David Curson gets 6 weeks in US Congress," November 7, 2012
- ↑ Michigan Secretary of State "2012 Registration Deadlines and Election Dates," Accessed June 29, 2012
- ↑ Wall Street Journal "Rep. McCotter runs for re-election as a write-in" May 31, 2012
- ↑ Detroit News "McCotter ends write-in campaign for Congress," June 2, 2012
- ↑ Detroit Free Press "Costly special primary likely" July 27, 2012
- ↑ Michigan Redistricting Map "Map" Accessed August 31, 2012
- ↑ "Detroit-area doctor to seek 11th US House seat" November 2, 2011
- ↑ Secretary of State "2012 Unofficial Michigan Primary Candidate List" May 31, 2012
- ↑ "War veteran decides to run for U.S. Congress" October 27, 2011
- ↑ Roll Call, "Michigan: Thaddeus McCotter Could Get Booted from the Ballot," May 26, 2012
- ↑ Detroit Free Press, "U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter could be left off primary," May 26, 2012
- ↑ Wall Street Journal "Rep. McCotter runs for re-election as a write-in" May 31, 2012
- ↑ The Detroit News, "87% of McCotter petition signatures invalid," May 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Times "House Race Ratings," Accessed August 10, 2012
- ↑ NRCC "Young Guns 2012"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Michigan," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" Accessed October 2012
- ↑ YouTube "Syed Taj's YouTube Account," Accessed October 9, 2012
- ↑ YouTube channel
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "April Quarterly," Accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "July Quarterly," Accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "Pre-Primary," Accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "October Quarterly," Accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "Pre-General," Accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "April Quarterly," Accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "July Quarterly," Accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "Pre-Primary," Accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "October Quarterly," Accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "Pre-General," Accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Roll Call "Race Ratings" May 31, 2012
- ↑ Washington Times "McCotter's miscue forces write-in bid" May 31, 2012
- ↑ MSNBC "McCotter's fail opens door for Democrats" May 31, 2012
- ↑ Detroit Free Press "Brian Dickerson: McCotter's miscue in 11th District might not matter as redistricting puts GOP ahead of the game" May 31, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010" Accessed December 23, 2011
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