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New Jersey's 12th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 5, 2012 |
Rush D. Holt, Jr.  |
Rush D. Holt, Jr. |
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The 12th Congressional District of New Jersey held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Rush D. Holt, Jr. was re-elected in 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: New Jersey had a mostly closed primary system, in which registered Republicans and Democrats could only vote in their own party's primary, but voters who had never voted in a primary before could choose either party.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by March 11, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 16, 2012.[2]
- See also: New Jersey elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election was incumbent Rush D. Holt, Jr. (D), who was first elected to the House in 1998.
This was be the first election using new district maps based on 2010 Census data. New Jersey's 12th Congressional District was located in the central portion of the state and included portions of Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset counties and the capital city of Trenton.[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 5, 2012, primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Rush D. Holt, Jr. Incumbent |
69.2% | 189,926 | |
| Republican | Eric Beck | 29.5% | 80,906 | |
| Independent | Kenneth Cody | 0.5% | 1,305 | |
| Independent | Jack Freudenheim | 0.8% | 2,261 | |
| Total Votes | 274,398 | |||
| Source: New Jersey Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in New Jersey
New Jersey lost a congressional seat following the results of the 2010 Census, bringing its number of representatives down to 12. A new map was approved on December 23, 2011.
The 12th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[6][7]
- 8 percent from the 4th Congressional District
- 10 percent from the 6th Congressional District
- 8 percent from the 7th Congressional District
- 74 percent from the 12th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 25, 2012, District 12 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New Jersey Secretary of State:
| New Jersey Congressional District 12[8] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 12 | 414,856 | 152,873 | 60,438 | 201,545 | Democratic | 152.94% | 75.85% |
| "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. New Jersey's 12th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[9]
- 2012: 63D / 37R
- 2010: 55D / 45R
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. New Jersey's 12th Congressional District had a PVI of D+12, which was the 85th most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 66-34 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 61-39 percent over George W. Bush (R).[10]
Campaign donors
Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are the candidates' reports.[11][12]
Rush D. Holt, Jr.
| Rush D. Holt, Jr. Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[13] | April 15 | $690,540.25 | $278,853.39 | $(154,503.10) | $814,890.54 | ||||
| Pre-primary[14] | May 24 | $814,890.54 | $70,163.45 | $(70,127.86) | $814,926.13 | ||||
| July Quarterly[15] | July 15 | $814,926.13 | $240,886.77 | $(127,698.57) | $928,114.33 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $589,903.61 | $(352,329.53) | ||||||||
Eric Beck
| Eric Beck Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[16] | April 15 | $0.00 | $68,820.00 | $(14,644.91) | $54,175.09 | ||||
| Pre-primary[17] | May 24 | $54,175.09 | $8,090.00 | $(13,917.21) | $48,347.88 | ||||
| July Quarterly[18] | July 15 | $48,347.88 | $20,205.97 | $(12,111.00) | $56,442.85 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $97,115.97 | $(40,673.12) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Rush D. Holt, Jr. was re-elected to the United States House for a seventh term. He defeated Scott Sipprelle (R) and Kenneth J. Cody (Truth Vision Hope).[19]
| United States House, New Jersey General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Rush D. Holt, Jr. Incumbent |
53% | 108,214 | |
| Republican | Scott Sipprelle | 45.9% | 93,634 | |
| Truth Vision Hope | Kenneth J. Cody | 1.1% | 2,154 | |
| Total Votes | 204,002 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in New Jersey, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "New Jersey 2012 General Election Results"
- ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "Voter Registration Information," accessed June 30, 2012
- ↑ New Jersey Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed September 25, 2012
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 NJ.gov "U.S. Senate Primary Candidates," accessed April 2, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 NJ.gov "Candidate List" accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "New Jersey's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ New Jersey Secretary of State, "Congressional Voter Registration Statistics," May 22, 2012
- ↑ FairVote, "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in New Jersey," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Rush D. Holt Details," accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Eric Beck Details," accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Rush Holt April Quarterly" accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Rush Holt Pre-primary" accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Rush Holt July Quarterly" accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Eric Beck April Quarterly" accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Eric Beck Pre-primary" accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Eric Beck July Quarterly" accessed October 11, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
