Illinois' 6th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
March 20, 2012 |
Peter Roskam  |
Peter Roskam |
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The 6th Congressional District of Illinois held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Incumbent Peter J. Roskam won the election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Illinois has a mixed-hybrid primary system. Voters can change parties each year but must declare a party affiliation at the polls. Depending on which party is chosen, the voter will then be counted as registered for that party. Voters may change party affiliation at polls or caucus.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by February 21. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9. A "grace period" was also available, allowing voter registration until three days before an election.[2][3]
- See also: Illinois elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Peter J. Roskam (R), who was first elected in 2006.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Illinois' 6th Congressional District includes parts of DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Lake counties.[4]
Leslie Coolidge was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune in the Democratic primary over candidates Geoffrey Petzel and Maureen Yates.[5]
Candidates
General election candidates
March 20, 2012, primary results
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- Note: Tim Ritter was removed from the official candidate list on February 2, 2012[10]
Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Peter Roskam Incumbent |
59.2% | 193,138 | |
| Democratic | Leslie Coolidge | 40.8% | 132,991 | |
| Total Votes | 326,129 | |||
| Source: Illinois Board of Elections "2012 General Election Official Vote Totals" | ||||
Democratic Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Leslie Coolidge |
54.5% | 9,919 |
| Maureen Yates | 32.6% | 5,934 |
| Geoffrey Petzel | 12.9% | 2,343 |
| Total Votes | 18,196 | |
Race background
Leslie Coolidge was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune in the Democratic primary over candidates Geoffrey Petzel and Maureen Yates.[5] In a February 23, 2012 article, the Chicago Tribune's endorsement stated, "We like her analytical approach to fiscal matters and her willingness to fine-tune ideas — increasing the cap on earnings subject to Social Security taxes, for example, or raising the retirement age — based on the actual numbers."[5]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Illinois
With the 2011 redistricting, Illinois lost 1 of its current 19 House seats because the state's population failed to grow as fast as in other states.[11] Illinois has had 11 Republican congressmen and 8 Democrats since the November 2010 election.[11] The new map, designed by the dominant Democrats, could have flipped that advantage to as many as 12 Democrats and only six Republicans.[11]
The new 6th District was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[12][13]
- 26 percent from the 6th Congressional District
- 15 percent from the 8th Congressional District
- 6 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 22 percent from the 13th Congressional District
- 19 percent from the 14th Congressional District
- 12 percent from the 16th Congressional District
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- 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. Illinois' 6th District became more Republican because of redistricting.[14]
- 2012: 48D / 52R
- 2010: 53D / 47R
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. Illinois' 6th Congressional District has a PVI of R+5, which is the 190th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 52-48 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 59-41 percent over John Kerry (D).[15]
Campaign donors
2012
| Leslie Coolidge (2012)[16] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[17] | March 8, 2012 | $26,812.55 | $53,315.15 | $(74,291.07) | $5,836.63 | ||||
| April Quarterly | April 15, 2012[18] | $5,836.63 | $54,731.78 | $(58,557.22) | $2,011.19 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $108,046.93 | $(132,848.29) | ||||||||
| Peter Roskam (2012)[19] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[20] | April 6, 2012 | $1,927,587.49 | $17,202.42 | $(153,168.51) | $1,944,621.40 | ||||
| April Quarterly[21] | April 13, 2012 | $1,944,621.40 | $176,554.76 | $(137,792.93) | $1,983,383.23 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $193,757.18 | $(290,961.44) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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| Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. |
2010
On November 2, 2010, Peter J. Roskam won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Benjamin S. Lowe (D) in the general election.[22]
| U.S. House, Illinois District 6 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Peter J. Roskam Incumbent |
63.6% | 114,456 | |
| Democratic | Benjamin S. Lowe | 36.4% | 65,379 | |
| Total Votes | 179,835 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
External links
- Campaign finance at OpenSecrets.org
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Illinois"
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "2012 Election Calendar," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "Registering to Vote in Illinois," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ June 2011 Illinois Redistricting, "Map" accessed July 23, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Chicago Tribune, "Contested races for the U.S. House" accessed March 12, 2012
- ↑ ABC News 7 "Election Results Primary 2012" accessed March 20, 2012
- ↑ Roll Call "Leslie Coolidge Faces Tough Climb Against Peter Roskam" accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ The Courier News "Petzel seeking Dem nod in 6th Dist." accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "Candidate List," accessed February 10, 2012
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chicago Tribune, "Odd geography in new Illinois congressional map:Millions of constituents will find their representative has changed" accessed February 22, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Illinois' congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Illinois," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Leslie Coolidge Summary Reports" accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Peter Roskam Summary Reports" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ [query.nictusa.com/pdf/997/12970857997/12970857997.pdf#navpanes=0 FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary Report" accessed July 9, 2012]
- ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
