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Texas' 27th congressional district elections, 2012
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| November 6, 2012 |
| May 29, 2012 |
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Incumbent Blake Farenthold (R) was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
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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 Blake Farenthold (R), who was first elected in 2010. He won re-election on November 6, 2012.
This was the first election using new district maps based on 2010 Census data. Texas' 27th congressional district was located in the southern portion of the state, and included Bastrop, Caldwell, Gonzales, Lavaca, Wharton, Matagorda, Jackson, Victoria, Calhoun, Refugio, Aransas, San Patricio, Nueces counties.[4]
In redistricting, The Hill published a list of the Top Ten House Members who were helped by redistricting.[5] Farenthold ranked 1st on the list.[5]
* 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.[6] 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.[7]
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
July 31, 2012 Democratic primary runoff candidates
May 29, 2012 primary results
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Election results
General election
| U.S. House, Texas, District 27 General Election, 2012 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Blake Farenthold Incumbent |
56.8% | 120,684 | |
| Democratic | Rose Meza Harrison | 39.2% | 83,395 | |
| Independent | Bret Baldwin | 2.5% | 5,354 | |
| Libertarian | Corrie Byrd | 1.5% | 3,218 | |
| Total Votes | 212,651 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Texas
In redistricting, The Hill published a list of the Top Ten House Members who were helped by redistricting.[5] Farenthold ranked 4th on the list.[5] The article notes that in redistricting the new Republican map moved Farenthold's district into "white, heavily Republican Corpus Christi, Texas."[5] Assuming no major Republican competition in a primary and the new map stood up to the legal challenges, Farenthold would go from an "accidental winner" in 2010[5] into a second-term incumbent in a safe Republican district.[5]
The 27th district was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[11][12]
- 34 percent from the 14th congressional district
- 3 percent from the 15th congressional district
- 12 percent from the 25th congressional district
- 52 percent from the 27th 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' 27th District became more Republican as a result of redistricting.[13]
- 2012: 37D / 63R
- 2010: 50D / 50R
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' 27th congressional district has a PVI of R+13, which is the 77th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 60-40 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush won the district 63-37 percent over John Kerry (D).[14]
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.
Blake Farenthold
| Blake Farenthold (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | April 13, 2012 | $310,379.05 | $107,564.61 | $(168,511.40) | $249,432.26 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[16] | May 17, 2012 | $249,432.26 | $31,079.50 | $(216,770.44) | $63,741.32 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $138,644.11 | $(385,281.84) | ||||||||
District history
2010
On November 2, 2010, Blake Farenthold won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating incumbent Solomon P. Ortiz (D) and Ed Mishou (L).[17]
| U.S. House of Representatives General Election, Texas, Congressional District 27, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | R. Blake Farenthold |
47.9% | 50,976 | |
| Democratic | Solomon P. Ortiz Incumbent | 47.1% | 50,179 | |
| Libertarian | Ed Mishou | 5% | 5,376 | |
| Total Votes | 106,531 | |||
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
- Texas GOP - candidate list
- Texas Libertarian Party - candidate list
- Texas Green Party - candidate list
- Texas Secretary of State - Independent candidate list
References
- ↑ ABC News "2012 General Election Results"
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 The Hill "House members most helped by redistricting" Accessed April 17, 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
- ↑ Democratic candidate list
- ↑ The New York Times, "Time in House Could Be Short for Republican Newcomers", July 4, 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 "Blake Farenthold April Quarterly," Accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission "Blake Farenthold Pre-Primary," Accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
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