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Massachusetts' 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
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November 6, 2012 |
September 6, 2012 |
Niki Tsongas  |
James P. McGovern (Elected to District 2) |
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The 3rd Congressional District of Massachusetts held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Niki Tsongas (D) won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Massachusetts' 3rd, on November 6th, 2012.[1] She had previously served as the representative for the 5th District.
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Massachusetts has a partially closed primary system, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members. In Massachusetts, however, independent voters may select which party's primary to vote in.
Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by August 17, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 17, 2012.[2]
- See also: Massachusetts elections, 2012
Incumbent: Going into the 2012 election, the incumbent was James P. McGovern (D), who was first elected to the U.S. House in 1988.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Massachusetts' 3rd Congressional District was located in the northern portion of the state and included Worcester, Middlesex, and Essex counties.[3]
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.
General election candidates
September 6 Democratic Primary
- Niki Tsongas:
Incumbent
- Niki Tsongas:
Republican Primary
- Jon Golnik: Small Business Owner[4]
- Tom Weaver: Small Business Owner[5]
- Jon Golnik:
Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Niki Tsongas Incumbent |
63.3% | 212,119 | |
| Republican | Jon Golnik | 32.6% | 109,372 | |
| N/A | All Others | 0.1% | 262 | |
| N/A | Blank Votes | 4% | 13,358 | |
| Total Votes | 335,111 | |||
| Source: Massachusetts Secretary of State "Return of Votes" | ||||
Republican Primary
The primary took place on September 6, 2012.[6]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Jon Golnik |
66.9% | 12,669 |
| Tom Weaver | 33.1% | 6,260 |
| Total Votes | 18,929 | |
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Massachusetts
Because Massachusetts lost a seat after the 2010 Census, the state's congressional districts went through significant changes.
The new 3rd District occupied roughly the area that the old 5th District occupied.
Daily Kos said:
| “ | The result is a district whose partisan voting makeup is little changed; the new towns are more conservative than the state as a whole, but collectively they are less so than the now-departed Billerica and Tewksbury. In the Merrimack Valley region, Lowell and Lawrence are surrounded by towns who often vote Republican, and the new communities further west range from near-neutral to hostile for Democrats. Adding in upscale and yet strongly Democratic towns further south - Acton, Concord, and Maynard, move things in a bluer direction, and prevent this district from being a true swing district. Also helpful for Democrats is that, apart from the proposed minority-majority MA-07, this would be the most demographically diverse district in the state.[7][8] | ” |
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. Massachusetts' 3rd District saw no change in partisanship due to redistricting.[9]
- 2012: 56D / 44R
- 2010: 56D / 44R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measured each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. Massachusetts' 3rd Congressional District had a PVI of D+8, which was the 121st most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 60-40 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 61-39 percent over George W. Bush (R).[10]
Issues
Media
Golnik released the following campaign ad on September 23, 2012.[11]
Jon Gonik, "Decision Time"[12] |
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, James P. McGovern won re-election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Tom Wesley in the general election.[13]
| U.S. House of Representatives, Massachusetts Congressional District 3 Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Jim McGovern Incumbent |
56.5% | 122,357 | |
| Republican | Marty Lamb | 39.2% | 84,972 | |
| Independent | Patrick Barron | 4.3% | 9,304 | |
| Total Votes | 216,633 | |||
Campaign donors
Niki Tsongas
| Niki Tsongas (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[14] | March 31, 2012 | $291,924.27 | $158,347.77 | $(133,798.61) | $316,473.43 | ||||
| July Quarterly[15] | June 30, 2012 | $316,473.43 | $308,246.61 | $(219,418.66) | $405,301.38 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $466,594.38 | $(353,217.27) | ||||||||
Jon Golnik
| Jon Golnik (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[16] | March 31, 2012 | $1,878.30 | $80,386.00 | $(16,561.59) | $65,702.71 | ||||
| July Quarterly[17] | June 30, 2012 | $65,702.71 | $61,739.43 | $(67,148.23) | $60,293.91 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $142,125.43 | $(83,709.82) | ||||||||
Tom Weaver
| Tom Weaver (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[18] | March 31, 2012 | $4,056.53 | $22,364.00 | $(9,506.00) | $16,914.53 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $22,364 | $(9,506) | ||||||||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Massachusetts, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Massachusetts"
- ↑ Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Voter Registration Information," accessed July 25, 2012
- ↑ Massachuestts Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed August 31, 2012
- ↑ Official Campaign Site "About" accessed January 24, 2012
- ↑ Official Campaign Site "About" May 14, 2012
- ↑ Associated Press, "Massachusetts Primary Results," accessed September 6, 2012
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Massachusetts Redistricting Analysis" August 27, 2012
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ , "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Massachusetts," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Golnik's YouTube Profile
- ↑ YouTube channel
- ↑ MSNBC "2010 Election Results"
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Niki Tsongas April Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Niki Tsongas July Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Jon Golnik April Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Jon Golnik July Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Tom Weaver April Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
