United States House of Representatives elections in Minnesota, 2012

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	Primary Date ; August 14, 2012
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	2012 U.S. Senate Elections

The 2012 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Minnesota took place on November 6, 2012. Voters elected eight candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's eight congressional districts.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
June 5, 2012	August 14, 2012	November 6, 2012

Primary: Minnesota has an open primary system, meaning any registered voter can vote in any party's primary.

Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by July 24. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 16. Voters could also have registered at the polls on Election Day, provided they bring requisite proof of residency.^[1]

See also: Minnesota elections, 2012

According to the New York Times race ratings in October 2012, two of the eight districts were considered to be in play. Those were the 2nd and 8th districts.^[2]

The Center for Voting and Democracy (Fairvote) projected that Democrats would win three districts while Republicans would win one seat. It did not make a projection for the remaining four districts.^[3]

Primary competitiveness

See also: National contested primary average during the 2012 U.S. congressional elections

Minnesota tied with Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and West Virginia for having the 22nd most competitive congressional primaries in 2012, with 50% of major party primaries having been contested (8 out of 16). The national average was 54.31%.

Eight U.S. House incumbents sought re-election in Minnesota in 2012. 5 of those 8 (62.5%) faced a primary challenger. Nationwide, 200 out of the 386 incumbents seeking re-election faced a primary challenger (51.81%).

Partisan breakdown

Heading into the November 6 election, the Democratic and Republican parties each held four of the eight Congressional seats from Minnesota.

Members of the U.S. House from Minnesota -- Partisan Breakdown
Party		As of November 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	4	5
	Republican Party	4	3
Total		8	8

Incumbents

Heading into the 2012 election, the incumbents for the eight congressional districts were:

Name	Party	District
Betty McCollum	Democratic	4
Chip Cravaack	Republican	8
Collin Peterson	Democratic	7
Erik Paulsen	Republican	3
John Kline	Republican	2
Keith Ellison	Democratic	5
Michele Bachmann	Republican	6
Tim Walz	Democratic	1

Margin of victory for winners

There were a total of 8 seats up for election in 2012 in Minnesota. 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
Minnesota, District 1	Tim Walz	15.2%	335,880	Allen Quist
Minnesota, District 2	John Kline	8.2%	358,446	Mike Obermuller
Minnesota, District 3	Erik Paulsen	16.3%	382,705	Brian Barnes
Minnesota, District 4	Betty McCollum	30.8%	347,991	Tony Hernandez
Minnesota, District 5	Keith Ellison	49.3%	351,969	Chris Fields
Minnesota, District 6	Michele Bachmann	1.2%	355,153	Jim Graves
Minnesota, District 7	Collin Peterson	25.5%	327,576	Lee Byberg
Minnesota, District 8	Rick Nolan	8.9%	353,663	Chip Cravaack

General election candidates

District	General Election Candidates	Incumbent	2012 Winner	Partisan Switch?
1st	Tim Walz Allen Quist	Tim Walz	Tim Walz	No
2nd	Mike Obermueller John Kline	John Kline	John Kline	No
3rd	Brian Barnes Erik Paulsen	Erik Paulsen	Erik Paulsen	No
4th	Betty McCollum Tony Hernandez Steve Carlson	Betty McCollum	Betty McCollum	No
5th	Keith Ellison Chris Fields	Keith Ellison	Keith Ellison	No
6th	Jim Graves Michele Bachmann	Michele Bachmann	Michele Bachmann	No
7th	Collin Peterson Lee Byberg Adam Steele	Collin Peterson	Collin Peterson	No
8th	Rick Nolan Chip Cravaack	Chip Cravaack	Rick Nolan	Yes

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.