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Texas' 21st Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
May 29, 2012 |
Lamar S. Smith  |
Lamar S. Smith |
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The 21st Congressional District of Texas held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Incumbent Lamar Smith (R) was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Texas has an open primary system, in which any registered voter can choose which party's primary to vote in, without having to be a member of that party. Texas also scheduled a primary runoff for July 31, 2012.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by April 30.[2] For the July 31, 2012, the vote registration deadline was July 2. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9.[3]
- See also: Texas elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Lamar S. Smith (R), who was first elected in 1986. He won re-election on November 6, 2012.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Texas' 21st Congressional District was located in the central portion of the state, and included Travis, Real, Kerr, Bandera, Gillespie, Blanco, Kendall, and Comal counties.[4]
* Redistricting note: Due to legal turmoil in the redistricting process, filing deadlines were changed twice and the primary was changed once. The original filing deadline was December 12th.[5] That deadline was first moved to December 15th and then December 19th by a federal court due to delays caused by redistricting legal challenges. When a final map was issued, the December 19th deadline was once again moved to March 9 to allow candidates more time to file in light of the delays and map ambiguities. The primary date was first moved from March 6 to April 3, 2012 before finally settling on May 29.[6]
Candidates
General election candidates
May 29, 2012, primary results
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Election results
General election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Lamar Smith Incumbent |
60.5% | 187,015 | |
| Democratic | Candace E. Duval | 35.4% | 109,326 | |
| Libertarian | John-Henry Liberty | 4.1% | 12,524 | |
| Total Votes | 308,865 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Texas
The 21st District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[9][10]
- 1 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 4 percent from the 11th Congressional District
- 1 percent from the 20th Congressional District
- 65 percent from the 21st Congressional District
- 2 percent from the 23rd Congressional District
- 26 percent from the 25th Congressional District
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
- 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. Texas' 21st District became more Democratic as a result of redistricting.[11]
- 2012: 39D / 61R
- 2010: 38D / 62R
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. Texas' 21st Congressional District has a PVI of R+11, which is the 92nd most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 57-43 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush won the district 63-37 percent over John Kerry (D).[12]
Campaign contributions
Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are candidate reports.
Candace Duval
| Candace Duval (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[13] | May 17, 2012 | $0 | $5,697.90 | $(6,156.66) | $−458.76 | ||||
| July Quarterly[14] | July 15, 2012 | $−458.76 | $9,006 | $(5,967.23) | $2,580.01 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $14,703.9 | $(12,123.89) | ||||||||
Lamar Smith
| Lamar Smith (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | April 13, 2012 | $1,325,933.66 | $211,053.18 | $(162,006.48) | $1,374,980.36 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[16] | May 17, 2012 | $1,374,980.36 | $120,448.65 | $(168,843.44) | $1,326,585.57 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $331,501.83 | $(330,849.92) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Lamar S. Smith won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Lainey Melnick (D) and James Arthur Strohm (L).[17]
| U.S. House of Representatives General Election, Texas, Congressional District 21, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Lamar Smith Incumbent |
68.9% | 162,924 | |
| Democratic | Lainey Melnick | 27.9% | 65,927 | |
| Libertarian | James Arthur Strohm | 3.3% | 7,694 | |
| Total Votes | 236,545 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Texas, 2012
External links
- Texas Democrats - candidate list (dead link)
- Texas GOP - candidate list
- Texas Libertarian Party - candidate list (dead link)
- Texas Green Party - candidate list
- Texas Secretary of State - Independent candidate list (dead link)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "2012 General Election Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Election Calendar," accessed July 27, 2012
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "You Must Register By...," accessed July 27, 2012
- ↑ Texas Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Important 2012 Election Dates," accessed July 15, 2011
- ↑ Washington Post, "Federal court orders May 29 primary date for Texas in redistricting case
- ↑ The New American "Sheriff Mack Announces Lawsuit Against SPLC, Run or Congress," December 14, 2011
- ↑ Republican candidates for U.S. House
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Texas's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ FairVote, "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Texas," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Candace Duval Pre-Primary," accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Candace Duval July Quarterly," accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Lamar Smith April Quarterly," accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Lamar Smith Pre-Primary," accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
