Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Review Articles: Utah Congressional Seats

December 6, 2012

By Ballotpedia's Congressional team

MADISON, Wisconsin: Utah had four U.S. House seats on the ballot in 2012. Due to population increases the state received an additional congressional seat in this year's election. The three prior incumbents all ran for and won re-election on November 6, 2012.

• District 2 incumbent Jim Matheson (D) decided to run for re-election in the newly created 4th Congressional District. He won the race, becoming the district's first representative.

• Matheson's district 2 seat, meanwhile, will be taken over by Republican Chris Stewart, who defeated four challengers to score the open seat in the general election.

Here are the candidates who won election.

Members of the U.S. House from Utah -- Partisan Breakdown
Party		As of November 2012	After the 2012 Election
	Democratic Party	1	1
	Republican Party	2	3
Total		3	4

Margin of victory for winners

There were a total of 4 seats up for election in 2012 in Utah. 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
U.S. House, Utah District 1 General Election	Rob Bishop	46.8%	245,528	Donna M. McAleer
U.S. House, Utah District 2 General Election	Chris Stewart	28.7%	248,545	Jay Seegmiller
U.S. House, Utah District 3 General Election	Jason Chaffetz	53.2%	259,547	Soren D. Simonsen
U.S. House, Utah District 4 General Election	Jim Matheson	0.3%	245,277	Mia B. Love

National picture

Both chambers of the United States Congress remain split after the November 6, 2012 election. Democrats increased their majority in the U.S. Senate while cutting into the Republicans majority in the U.S. House.

Of the 435 candidates who won election to the U.S. House, 85 of them were challengers, which represents 19.5 percent of U.S. House members. Of those 85, 50 are Democratic and 35 are Republican. A total of 27 incumbents were defeated -- 10 Democratic and 17 Republican.

2012 United States House General Election Results
Party	Total Winners	Incumbent Winners	Defeated Incumbents	Incumbent Re-Election Rate**	Non-Incumbent Winners
Democratic	201	151	10	93.8%	50
Republican	234	198	17	92.1%	35
TOTALS	435	349	27	92.8%	85
**Note: The incumbent re-election rate is calculated by dividing the total incumbents winners by the total incumbents who appeared on the general election ballot.

U.S. Senate Partisan Breakdown Party As of November 2012 After the 2012 Election      Democratic Party 51 53      Republican Party 47 45      Independent 2 2 Total 100 100

U.S. House Partisan Breakdown Party As of November 2012 After the 2012 Election      Democratic Party 193 201      Republican Party 242 234 Total 435 435

See also

• Ballotpedia:2012 general election preview articles
• November 6, 2012 election results
• Ballotpedia's 2012 General Election Preview Articles: Utah State Executive Officials
• United States Congressional election results, 2012
• United States House of Representatives elections in Utah, 2012
  • Utah's 1st Congressional District elections, 2012
  • Utah's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2012
  • Utah's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
  • Utah's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012
• Utah elections, 2012
• National contested primary average during the 2012 U.S. congressional elections