Nevada's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 12, 2012 |
Joe Heck  |
Joe Heck |
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The 3rd Congressional District of Nevada held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Republican incumbent Joe Heck won re-election on November 6, 2012, defeating three challengers, with 50% of the vote.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Nevada has a closed primary system, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by May 12, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 6, 2012.[2]
- See also: Nevada elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election, the incumbent was Joe Heck (R), who was first elected to the House in 2010. Heck won re-election on November 6, 2012.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Nevada's 3rd Congressional District was located in the southern portion of the state and included the portion of Clark County that is south of Las Vegas.[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
June 12, 2012, primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Oceguera | 42.9% | 116,823 | |
| Republican |  Joe Heck Incumbent |
50.4% | 137,244 | |
| Independent American Party of Nevada | Tom Jones | 2.1% | 5,600 | |
| Independent | Jim Murphy | 4.7% | 12,856 | |
| Total Votes | 272,523 | |||
| Source: Nevada Secretary of State "U.S. House of Representatives Results" | ||||
Primary Results
The primary was held on June 12, 2012.[8]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
John Oceguera |
50.4% | 7,966 |
| Stephen H. Frye | 16.8% | 2,659 |
| Jesse "Jake" Holder | 13.3% | 2,099 |
| Barry Michaels | 8.5% | 1,346 |
| Gerald Sakura | 6.3% | 989 |
| James F. Haning II | 4.7% | 736 |
| Total Votes | 15,795 | |
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Joe Heck |
90.1% | 20,798 |
| Chris Dyer | 9.9% | 2,298 |
| Total Votes | 23,096 | |
Race background
Competitiveness
Using the Federal Election Commission's October Quarterly campaign finance filings, the Brennan Center for Justice at The New York University School of Law published a report on October 22nd, 2012 focusing on the 25 House races rated most competitive by The Cook Political Report, including the race for Nevada's 3rd. The report examined the relative spending presence of non-candidate groups, candidates, and small donors in these races - "which will likely determine which party will control the House."[9]
| List of 25 Toss Up Races from the Cook Political Report:[10] | |
|---|---|
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Democratic Toss Ups: Republican Toss Ups: | |
Nevada's 3rd was considered to be Leaning Republican according to the New York Times race ratings. Republican incumbent Joe Heck was challenged by John Oceguera (D) in a district that was evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.[11]
Nevada's 3rd District was included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue List," which identified districts that the organization targeted to flip from Republican to Democratic control.[12]
Incumbent Joe Heck was a part of the National Republican Congressional Committee's Patriot Program, a program to help House Republicans stay on offense and increase their majority in 2012.[13]
After the election, the Sunlight Foundation listed four races where satellite spending may have impacted the election result. Heck was listed as one of the four, supported by over $2 million in spending by independent groups, including the American Action Network and the National Republican Campaign Committee.[14]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Nevada
Nevada gained a congressional seat following the 2010 Census, bringing its total representatives to four. After the 2011 redistricting, the 3rd District still covered the southern tip of Nevada.
Registration statistics
As of October 25, 2012, District 3 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the Nevada Secretary of State:
| Nevada Congressional District 3[15] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 3 | 282,191 | 108,119 | 109,288 | 64,784 | Republican | 1.08% | 18.56% |
| "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. Nevada's 3rd District became less Democratic because of redistricting.[16]
- 2012: 51D / 49R
- 2010: 52D / 48R
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. Nevada's 3rd Congressional District had a PVI of Even, which was one of nine even districts in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 55-45 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 53-47 percent over John Kerry (D).[17]
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Joe Heck was elected to the United States House. He defeated incumbent Dina Titus (D), Barry Michaels (Independent), Joseph P. Silvestri (Libertarian), and Scott David Narter (Independent American).[18]
| United States House, Nevada General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Joseph John Heck |
48.1% | 128,916 | |
| Democratic | Dina Titus Incumbent | 47.5% | 127,168 | |
| Independent | Barry Michaels | 2.4% | 6,473 | |
| Libertarian | Joseph P. Silvestri | 1.5% | 4,026 | |
| Independent American | Scott David Narter | 0.5% | 1,291 | |
| Total Votes | 267,874 | |||
Campaign donors
Joe Heck
| Joe Heck (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[19] | April 15, 2012 | $835,475.46 | $278,773.06 | $(94,211.89) | $1,020,036.63 | ||||
| Pre-primary[20] | May 23, 2012 | $1,020,036.63 | $215,859.22 | $(102,006.32) | $1,133,889.53 | ||||
| July Quarterly[21] | July 15, 2012 | $1,133,889.53 | $240,442.00 | $(87,288.59) | $1,287,042.94 | ||||
| October Quarterly[22] | October 15, 2012 | $1,287,042.94 | $358,018.22 | $(558,863.76) | $1,086,197.40 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $1,093,092.5 | $(842,370.56) | ||||||||
Steven Oceguera
| John Oceguera (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[23] | March 31, 2012 | $185,452.98 | $377,896.02 | $(84,295.46) | $479,053.54 | ||||
| Pre-primary[24] | May 30, 2012 | $479,053.54 | $81,140.36 | $(121,894.39) | $438,299.51 | ||||
| July Quarterly[25] | July 15, 2012 | $438,299.51 | $229,433.49 | $(43,645.37) | $624,087.63 | ||||
| October Quarterly[26] | October 15, 2012 | $624,087.63 | $353,095.06 | $(558,262.67) | $418,920.02 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $1,041,564.93 | $(808,097.89) | ||||||||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Nevada, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Nevada, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Nevada," accessed November 7, 2012
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Important Election Dates," accessed July 26, 2012
- ↑ Nevada Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ Boulder City Review "Tearing Down Heck," accessed December 16, 2011
- ↑ Fox5 "Reid backs Oceguera in Nevada House race," accessed December 16, 2011
- ↑ Barry Michaels for Congress "Official Campaign Website"
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Clark County Website "Candidate Filing" March 19, 2012
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "2012 Congressional primary results," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Election Spending 2012: 25 Toss-Up House Races," October 22, 2012
- ↑ The Cook Political Report, "House: Race Ratings," updated October 18, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 10, 2012
- ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
- ↑ NRCC "Patriot Program 2012"
- ↑ Sunlight Foundation, "Four House races where outside money may have pushed the needle" November 7, 2012
- ↑ Nevada Secretary of State, "Congressional Voter Registration Statistics," May 18, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Nevada," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Joe Heck April Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Joe Heck Pre-primary," accessed October 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Joe Heck July Quarterly," accessed October 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Joe Heck October Quarterly," accessed October 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Steven Oceguera April Quarterly," accessed July 2, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Steven Oceguera Pre-primary," accessed October 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Steven Oceguera July Quarterly," accessed October 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Steven Oceguera October Quarterly," accessed October 17, 2012
