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Iowa's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012

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Iowa's 4th Congressional District
General Election Date
November 6, 2012
Primary Date
June 5, 2012
November 6 Election Winner:
Steve King Republican Party
Incumbent prior to election:
Tom Latham Republican Party
Tom Latham.jpg
Iowa U.S. House Elections
District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4
2012 U.S. Senate Elections
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The 4th Congressional District of Iowa held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Steve King, the incumbent from the 5th District, won the election. Iowa's 5th Congressional District was eliminated after the 2010 census.[1]

This is the 4th Congressional District prior to the 2010 redistricting.
Candidate Filing Deadline Primary Election General Election
March 16, 2012
June 5, 2012
November 6, 2012

Primary: Iowa has a mostly closed primary system: voters must be registered with the Democratic or Republican Party in order to vote in the primary, but they may switch their party affiliation on election day.[2]

Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by May 26.[2] For the general election, the voter pre-registration deadline was October 27,[3] but voters could also register at the polls on Election Day, provided they brought proper documentation.[4]

See also: Iowa elections, 2012

Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Tom Latham (R), who was first elected in 1995. Latham lived in the new 4th District, where he would have faced fellow Republican Steve King in a primary, and moved south into the 3rd District.[5]

This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Iowa's 4th Congressional District covered most of the north-central part of the state. The district included Ames and Fort Dodge. Lyon, Sioux, Plymouth, Woodbury, Monona, Harrison, Shelby, Crawford, Audubon, Carroll, Greene, Boone, Story, Hardin, Hamilton, Webster, Calboun, Sac, Ida, Cherokee, Buena Vista, Pocahontas, Humboldt, Webster, Hamilton, Franklin, Butler, Chicksaw, Floyd, Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Winnebago, Kossuth, Emmett, Palo Alto, Dickinson, Osceola, O'Brien, Clay and Grundy counties.[6]

Candidates

General election candidates

Democratic Party Christie Vilsack
Republican Party Steve King Green check mark transparent.png
Grey.png Martin James Monroe[7]


May 8, 2012, primary results

Democratic Party Democratic Primary

Republican Party Republican Primary

Race background

Iowa's 4th was considered to be Leaning Republican according to the New York Times race ratings. Republican incumbent Steve King was challenged by Christie Vilsack.[9]

Two committees, SEIU and American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees AFL-CIO, AFSCME, filed reports for campaign spending directed against incumbent Steve King. SEIU spent more than $30,000 on advertisements against King, while AFSCME spent $26,000.[10][11]

Iowa's 4th District was included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue List," which identified districts that the organization specifically targeted to flip from Republican to Democratic control.[12]

Polls

Steve King vs. Christie Vilsack

vs.
Poll Steve King Christie VilsackDon't knowSample size
Public Policy Polling
(September 24-25, 2012)
 48%45%7%577
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.


Media

The videos below are campaign ads from Democratic candidate Christie Vilsack and Republican candidate Steve King.

Christie Vilsack


Christie Vilsack "Just Iowa"[13]

Steve King


Steve King "Land"[14]

Impact of redistricting

See also: Redistricting in Iowa

The new 4th District contained some territory that was represented by Steve King (R) in the old 5th District at the time of the election.[15] The new 4th District extended from the Missouri River to near Waterloo, Iowa.[16] It included Ames, Mason City, Fort Dodge, Sioux City and northwest Iowa.[17]

The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[18][19]

Registration statistics

As of October 24, 2012, District 4 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the Iowa Secretary of State:

Iowa Congressional District 4[20]
Congressional District District Total Democrats Republicans Other & Unaffiliated Advantage Party Advantage Change in Advantage from 2010
District 4 474,193 126,750 179,964 167,479 Republican 41.98% 37.79%
"Party advantage" is the percentage gap between the two major parties in registered voters. "Change in advantage" is the spread in difference of party advantage between 2010 and 2012 based on the congressional district number only.

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. Iowa's 4th District became less Republican because of redistricting.[21]

  • 2012: 46D / 54R
  • 2010: 41D / 59R

Cook Political Report's PVI

See also: Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

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. Iowa's 4th Congressional District had a PVI of R+4, which was the 234th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 51-49 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 55-45 percent over John Kerry (D).[22]

Campaign donors

2012

Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are Christie Vilsack and Steve King's reports.

Christie Vilsack (2012)[23] Campaign Finance Reports
ReportDate FiledBeginning BalanceTotal Contributions
for Reporting Period		ExpendituresCash on Hand
April Quarterly[24]April 15, 2012$751,530.16$395,433.24$(241,536.24)$905,427.16
Pre-Primary[25]October 13, 2012$905,427.16$235,110.12$(251,872.03)$888,665.25
July Quarterly[26]October 13, 2012$888,665.25$285,258.98$(327,719.22)$846,205.01
October Quarterly[27]October 18, 2012$846,205.01$694,928.22$(1,102,998.99)$438,134.24
Pre-General[28]October 25, 2012$438,134.24$252,485.96$(470,133.51)$220,486.69
Running totals
$1,863,216.52$(2,394,259.99)
Steve King[29] Campaign Finance Reports
ReportDate FiledBeginning BalanceTotal Contributions
for Reporting Period		ExpendituresCash on Hand
April Quarterly[30]April 14, 2012$529,490.09$446,976.28$(166,611.93)$809,854.44
Pre-Primary[31]May 24, 2012$809,854.44$378,490.69$(155,180.21)$1,033,164.92
July Quarterly[32]July 15, 2012$1,033,164.92$476,590.80$(243,594.00)$1,266,161.72
October Quarterly[33]October 15, 2012$1,266,161.72$1,050,484.24$(1,279,403.82)$1,037,242.14
Pre-General[34]October 25, 2012$1,037,242.14$262,370.95$(656,539.08)$643,074.01
Running totals
$2,614,912.96$(2,501,329.04)

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 5, 2010, Tom Latham won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Bill Maske (D) and Dan Lensing (I) in the general election.[35]

U.S. House, Iowa District 4 General Election, 2010
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngTom Latham Incumbent 65.6% 152,588
     Democratic Bill Maske 32% 74,300
     Independent Dan Lensing 2.4% 5,499
     Independent Write-In 0.1% 132
Total Votes 232,519

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Politico, "2012 House Race Results," accessed November 6, 2012
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Election," accessed July 24, 2012
  3. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Voter Pre-Registration," accessed July 24, 2012
  4. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Election Day Registration," accessed July 24, 2012
  5. ↑ The Washington Post, "Tom Latham to run in Iowa’s 3rd District" accessed December 16, 2011
  6. ↑ Iowa Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
  7. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State "General Election Candidate List," accessed August 15, 2012
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 The Messenger "Vilsack launches campaign" accessed December 16, 2011
  9. ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 10, 2012
  10. ↑ FEC Reports, "AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE COUNTY AND MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES AFL-CIO Finance Report" accessed August 16, 2012
  11. ↑ FEC Reports, " SEIU COPE (SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION) Finance Report" accessed August 16, 2012
  12. ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
  13. ↑ http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwlZgLbrAjM YouTube channel]
  14. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWCXEgv5miE&feature=youtu.be YouTube channel]
  15. ↑ Roll Call, "Race Ratings: Competitive Races On Tap in Iowa" accessed February 29, 2012
  16. ↑ Des Moines Register, "Filing deadline makes official big battles in Iowa's 3rd, 4th Districts" accessed March 19, 2012
  17. ↑ Des Moines Register, "King has more than $1 million on hand for race against Vilsack" accessed May 23, 2012
  18. ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Iowa's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
  19. ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
  20. ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Congressional Voter Registration Statistics," July 2, 2012
  21. ↑ , "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Iowa," September 2012
  22. ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
  23. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Christie Vilsack's Summary Report," accessed September 27, 2012
  24. ↑ Federal Elections Commission, "April Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
  25. ↑ Federal Elections Commission, "Pre-Primary," accessed November 1, 2012"
  26. ↑ Federal Elections Commission, "July Quarterly," accessed November 1, 2012"
  27. ↑ Federal Elections Commission, "October Quarterly," accessed November 1, 2012
  28. ↑ Federal Elections Commission, "Pre-General," accessed November 1, 2012
  29. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Steve King's Summary Report," accessed September 27, 2012
  30. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "April Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
  31. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pre-Primary," accessed November 1, 2012
  32. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "July Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
  33. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "October Quarterly," November 1, 2012
  34. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pre-General," November 1, 2012
  35. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013 accessed November 5, 2011
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Iowa's current delegation to the United States Congress
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