Alabama's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
March 13, 2012 |
Jo Bonner  |
Jo Bonner |
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The 1st Congressional District of Alabama held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Alabama has an open primary system, in which registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by March 3. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 28.[2]
- See also: Alabama elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Jo Bonner (R), who was first elected in 2002.
This was the first election which used new district maps based on 2010 Census data. The 1st District is located in southwestern Alabama and includes Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Monroe, Washington counties and part of Clarke county.[3]
Candidates
General election candidates
March 13, 2012 primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Jo Bonner Incumbent |
97.9% | 196,374 | |
| N/A | Write-In | 2.1% | 4,302 | |
| Total Votes | 200,676 | |||
| Source: Alabama Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Republican Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Jo Bonner Incumbent |
55.6% | 48,481 |
| Dean Young | 24.3% | 21,216 |
| Pete Riehm | 15.7% | 13,744 |
| Peter Gounares | 4.4% | 3,828 |
| Total Votes | 87,269 | |
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Alabama
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. Alabama's 1st District was projected as Safe Republican in 2012.[7]
- 2012: 35D / 65R
- 2010: 35D / 65R
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. Alabama's 1st Congressional District has a PVI of R+14, which is the 58th 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 won the district 65-35 percent over John Kerry (D).[8]
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.
Jo Bonner
| Jo Bonner (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[9] | March 1, 2012 | $371,279.88 | $172,181.12 | $(320,554.74) | $222,906.26 | ||||
| April Quarterly[10] | April 3, 2012 | $222,906.26 | $278,472.38 | $(308,170.85) | $193,207.79 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $450,653.5 | $(628,725.59) | ||||||||
Campaign issues
Ethics committee
In September 2011, Dean Young sent a letter to the United States House Committee on Ethics requesting that committee chairman Jo Bonner recuse himself from any oversight of his personal financial disclosure statement. Young made the request due to allegations that Bonner improperly received investigative information from the committee’s probes of two lawmakers, Charles B. Rangel and Maxine Waters. The committee’s former staff director accused two committee attorneys of improperly sharing investigative information with Republicans on the panel, including Bonner. The committee released a statement in response to allegations that said, "The entire committee has therefore directed that a thorough review of all of these serious allegations will be the very first task of the outside counsel’s engagement."[11][12]
Impeachment of President Obama
Pete Riehm and Dean Young, speaking at a Tea-Party sponsored event in early 2012, said they would support the introduction of article of impeachment against President Barack Obama. Young said, "First, I would cut off his funding. If that didn’t work, I would introduce a resolution describing what he’s done wrong. The last resort, which I am willing to take, would be to impeach him. We simply cannot allow him to continue to operate the way he has." Riehm cited violations of the U.S. Constitution and asaid, "failure to recognize wrong-doing is moral dereliction and, when you have the authority, failure to uphold the law is accessory to the crime." Incumbent Jo Bonner and candidate Peter Gounares said they did not support pursuing impeachment.[13]
RESTORE Act
Peter Gounares and Pete Riehm stated that they oppose the RESTORE Act, which would distribute oil spill fines to the governments of states along the Gulf coast. Gounares said he instead favored distributing the money to the individuals affected by the spills. Riehm opposed the RESTORE Act and did not favor distributing the money to individuals either. Incumbent Jo Bonner disagreed, stating, "I'm trying to be respectful to a dissenting view, but I would say it's very much a minority view."[14]
Campaign for Primary Accountability
A super PAC called the Campaign for Primary Accountability spent $21,000 on campaigns challenging incumbent Jo Bonner. Bonner said, “If I hadn’t had $1 million in my account, I could be underwater right now."[15] The Campaign for Primary Accountability assisted Dean Young in his effort to unseat Bonner.[16]
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Jo Bonner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated David Walter in the general election.[17]
| U.S. House, Alabama District 1 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Jo Bonner Incumbent |
83% | 129,063 | |
| Constitution | David Walter | 17% | 26,357 | |
| Total Votes | 155,420 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
External links
- Democratic Primary candidates
- Republican Primary candidates
- Peter Gounares campaign website
- Pete Riehm campaign website
- Dean Young campaign website
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "General Election Results 2012"
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "Voter Registration Info," accessed July 20, 2012
- ↑ Alabama Redistricting, "Map" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ "Peter Gounares to run for 1st Congressional District seat," Al.com, November 21, 2011
- ↑ "Pete Riehm, second conservative challenger to Rep. Jo Bonner, launches campaign," Al.com, September 27, 2011
- ↑ "Conservative Orange Beach businessman Dean Young to challenge Jo Bonner in GOP primary," Al.com, August 18, 2011
- ↑ FairVote, "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Alabama," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Jo Bonner Pre-Primary," accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Jo Bonner April Quarterly," accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ Al.com, "Dean Young chides Rep. Jo Bonner over Ethics Committee controversy," September 14, 2011
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Only In Washington: Ethics Questions Follow Ethics Chairman," September 22, 2011
- ↑ Alabama Press-Register, "Alabama candidates vow: 'Impeach Obama' (George Talbot column)" February 1, 2012
- ↑ Al.com, "GOP congressional challengers oppose RESTORE act," January 24, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "‘Super PAC’ Increasing Congress’s Sense of Insecurity," March 8, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "Anti-Incumbent Sentiment Fuels Primary Fights in Deep South," March 12, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
