Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
|
 |
November 6, 2012 |
September 11, 2012 |
Ann McLane Kuster  |
Charles Bass  |
 |
 |
The 2nd District of New Hampshire held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Ann McLane Kuster defeated incumbent Charles Bass.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: New Hampshire has a mostly closed primary system, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members. In New Hampshire, however, Independent voters may choose which party's primary to vote in.
Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by September 4, 2012, or at the polls on election day. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 27, 2012, or at the polls on election day.[2]
- See also: New Hampshire elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Charles Bass (R), who was first elected to the House in 1994, where he served until 2007, and was re-elected again in 2010.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District encompassed most of the state, including the northern, southern, and western reaches of the state.[3]
Candidates
Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals were added after official election results had been certified. Click here for more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan. Please contact us about errors in this list.
General election candidates
September 11, 2012, primary results
Democratic Primary
- Ann McLane Kuster:
Attorney, 2010 candidate[4]
- Ann McLane Kuster:
Republican Primary
Libertarian candidate
Independent candidate
Danny KeatingKeating did not appear on the sample ballot
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Charles Bass Incumbent | 45.4% | 152,977 | |
| Democratic |  Ann McLane Kuster |
50.2% | 169,275 | |
| Libertarian | Hardy Macia | 4.4% | 14,936 | |
| Total Votes | 337,188 | |||
| Source: New Hampshire Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Primary Results
The primary was held on September 11, 2012.[5]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Charles Bass |
81.8% | 39,605 |
| Dennis Lamare | 8.8% | 4,263 |
| Will Dean | 4.4% | 2,129 |
| Miroslaw Dziedzic | 2.7% | 1,310 |
| Gerard Beloin | 2.3% | 1,127 |
| Total Votes | 48,434 | |
Race background
New Hampshire's 2nd was considered to be a Tossup according to the New York Times race ratings. Republican incumbent Charlie Bass defeated Ann McLane Kuster (D) in a rematch. Kuster led in fundraising.[6]
The Washington Post listed the House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire in 2012 as one of the 10 states that could have determined control of the House.[7] New Hampshire ranked 10th on the list.[7]
New Hampshire's 2nd District was included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue List," which identified districts that the organization targeted to flip from Republican to Democratic control.[8]
Incumbent Charlie Bass was a part of the National Republican Congressional Committee's Patriot Program, a program to help House Republicans increase their majority in 2012.[9]
After the election, the Sunlight Foundation listed four races where satellite spending may have impacted race results. Kuster was listed as one of the four and was supported by $3.2 million in spending from independent groups, including the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the House Majority PAC.[10][11]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in New Hampshire
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. New Hampshire's 2nd District partisan breakdown did not change because of redistricting.[12]
- 2012: 53D / 47R
- 2010: 53D / 47R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measured each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District had a PVI of D+3, which was the 162nd most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 57-43 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 52-48 percent over George W. Bush (R).[13]
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, Charles Bass was elected to the United States House for a fifth non-consecutive term. He defeated Ann McLane Kuster (D), Tim vanBlommesteyn (Independent), and Howard L. Wilson (Libertarian).[14]
| United States House, New Hampshire General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Charles Bass |
48.3% | 108,610 | |
| Democratic | Ann McLane Kuster | 46.8% | 105,060 | |
| Independent | Tim vanBlommesteyn | 2.8% | 6,197 | |
| Libertarian | Howard L. Wilson | 2.1% | 4,796 | |
| Total Votes | 224,663 | |||
Campaign donors
Charles Bass
| Charles Bass (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | March 31, 2012 | $600,264.23 | $268,733.73 | $(78,581.61) | $790,416.35 | ||||
| July Quarterly[16] | June 30, 2012 | $790,416.35 | $271,605.61 | $(149,231.22) | $912,790.74 | ||||
| Pre-primary[17] | August 30 | $912,790.74 | $86,656.26 | $(149,817.62) | $849,629.38 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $626,995.6 | $(377,630.45) | ||||||||
Annie Kuster
| Annie Kuster (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[18] | March 31, 2012 | $828,125.99 | $352,068.54 | $(148,635.90) | $1,031,558.63 | ||||
| July Quarterly[19] | June 30, 2012 | $1,031,558.63 | $483,572.30 | $(222,319.46) | $1,292,811.47 | ||||
| Pre-primary[20] | August 30 | $1,292,811.47 | $220,171.15 | $(394,215.99) | $1,118,766.63 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $1,055,811.99 | $(765,171.35) | ||||||||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in New Hampshire, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 House Race Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "Voter Registration Deadlines," accessed July 26, 2012
- ↑ New Hampshire Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ Politico "Dems eye GOP rematches for 2012," accessed December 16, 2011
- ↑ New Hampshire Secretary of State, "2012 Representative In Congress - Republican Primary"
- ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 10, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Washington Post, "The 10 states that will determine control of the House in 2012," accessed April 25, 2012
- ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
- ↑ NRCC "Patriot Program 2012"
- ↑ Sunlight Foundation, "Four House races where outside money may have pushed the needle" November 7, 2012
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "2012 Congressional primary results," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in New Hampshire," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Charles Bass April Quarterly," accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Charles Bass July Quarterly," accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Charles Bass Pre-primary," accessed October 8, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Annie Kuster April Quarterly," accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Annie Kuster July Quarterly," accessed August 1, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Annie Kuster Pre-primary," accessed October 8, 2012
