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United States House of Representatives elections in Alaska, 2012
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Alaska's 2012 elections U.S. House • State Senate • State House • State ballot measures • Candidate ballot access |
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See the full article here: Alaska's At-Large Congressional District elections, 2012
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August 28, 2012 |
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November 6, 2012 |
August 28, 2012 |
Don Young  |
Don Young |
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The 2012 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Alaska took place on November 6, 2012. Voters elected one candidate to serve in the U.S. House from the state's At-Large Congressional District.
Incumbent Don Young won re-election on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Alaska has a mixed primary system, in which parties decide who may vote in their primary election. The Alaska Democratic Party, Alaska Libertarian Party and Alaskan Independence Party allow any registered voters. The Alaska Republican Party allows only registered Republicans, nonpartisan or undeclared voters.[2]
Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by July 29. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 7.[3]
- See also: Alaska elections, 2012
Incumbent: The incumbent heading into the election was Don Young (R), who was first elected in 1972.
Alaska has a single At-Large Congressional District, which is made up of the entire state.
Heading into the November 6 election, the Republican Party held the one congressional seat from Alaska.
| Members of the U.S. House from Alaska -- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2012 | After the 2012 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 0 | 0 | |
| Republican Party | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 1 | 1 | |
The Center for Voting and Democracy (Fairvote) projected that Republicans remained in control of the one congressional seat.[4]
Primary competitiveness
Alaska tied with Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Rhode Island, and Washington for having the most competitive congressional primaries in 2012, with 100% of major party primaries having been contested (2 out of 2). The national average was 54.31%.
Alaska's one U.S. House incumbent sought re-election in 2012. He faced a challenger in the primary. Nationwide, 200 out of the 386 incumbents seeking re-election faced a primary challenger (51.81%).
FairVote Democracy Study
- See also: FairVote's "Dubious Democracy" report about United States House of Representatives elections
FairVote, formerly the Center for Voting and Democracy, published a study of representative democracy in U.S. House elections. The analysis, "Dubious Democracy," compiles voting data to assess "the level of competition and the accuracy of representation in House elections in all 50 states."[5] The study attempts to highlight a lack of real options in most elections, as well as a mismatch between voter preferences and the politicians who represent them.[5]
Among the statistics analyzed in the study are the following:
- Democracy Index is the overall combination of Average Margin of Victory, Landslide Index, Seats-to-Votes Distortion, and Representation Index. In 2010, Alaska ranked 24th with a score of 24.8.
- Margin of Victory is the winner's percentage of the vote minus the second-place candidate's. In 2010, Alaska ranked 41st with a margin of 38.6%
- Voter Turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who voted in a given election. In 2010, Alaska ranked 6th with a turnout of 51.5%
- Representation Index multiplies voter turnout by the winning candidate's percentage. In 2010, Alaska ranked 1st with an index of 35.5%
Margin of victory for winners
There was a total of 1 seat up for election in 2012 in Alaska. The following table shows the margin of victory for each district winner, which is calculated by examining the percentage difference between the top-two vote getters. If the race was uncontested, the margin of victory is listed as 100%.
| District | Winner | Margin of Victory | Total Vote | Top Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska, At-Large, District | Don Young |
35.3% | 289,804 | Sharon M. Cissna |
General election candidates
| District | General Election Candidates | Incumbent | 2012 Winner | Partisan Switch? |
| At-large |  Sharon Cissna Don Young Jim McDermott Ted Gianoutsos Clinton Desjarlais Fletcher G. Fuller Jr. (Write-in) Sidney I. Hill (Write-in) |
Don Young | Don Young |
No |
Candidates
General election candidates
August 28, 2012, primary results
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Election results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Don Young |
63.9% | 185,296 | |
| Democratic | Sharon M. Cissna | 28.6% | 82,927 | |
| Libertarian | Jim C. McDermott | 5.2% | 15,028 | |
| NA | Ted Gianoutsos | 1.9% | 5,589 | |
| NA | Write-in | 0.3% | 964 | |
| Total Votes | 289,804 | |||
| Source: Alaska Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
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. Alaska's At-Large Congressional District had a PVI of R+13, which was the 70th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 61-39 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 63-37 percent over John Kerry (D).[7]
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "2012 General Election Results Alaska," accessed November 7, 2012
- ↑ State of Alaska Division of Elections Website, "Primary Election Information," accessed January 2, 2014
- ↑ Alaska Division of Elections, "2012 Statewide Election Calendar," accessed July 20, 2012
- ↑ , "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Alaska," September 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 FairVote, "Dubious Democracy 2010," accessed July 8, 2012
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Alaska Secretary of State "Primary Candidate List," accessed June 2, 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
