New Jersey's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 5, 2012 |
Chris Smith (New Jersey)  |
Chris Smith (New Jersey) |
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The 4th Congressional District of New Jersey held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Chris Smith won the election.[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 Chris Smith (R), who was first elected to the House in 1980.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. New Jersey's 4th Congressional District was located in the central portion of the state and included most of Monmouth County and parts of Mercer and Ocean 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
June 5, 2012, primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Brian Froelich | 35.3% | 107,991 | |
| Republican |  Chris Smith Incumbent |
63.7% | 195,145 | |
| Independent | Leonard Marshall | 1% | 3,111 | |
| Total Votes | 306,247 | |||
| Source: New Jersey Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Republican Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Chris Smith Incumbent |
83.6% | 21,520 |
| Terrance McGowan | 16.4% | 4,209 |
| Total Votes | 25,729 | |
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 new 4th District was even more strongly Republican than it was before.[7]
The 4th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[8][9]
- 65 percent from the 4th Congressional District
- 14 percent from the 6th Congressional District
- 21 percent from the 12th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 25, 2012, District 4 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New Jersey Secretary of State:
| New Jersey Congressional District 4[10] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 4 | 469,972 | 107,756 | 119,949 | 240,267 | Republican | 11.32% | 8.42% |
| "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 4th District became more Republican because of redistricting.[11]
- 2012: 42D / 58R
- 2010: 44D / 56R
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 4th Congressional District had a PVI of R+7, which was the 147th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 54-46 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 57-43 percent over John Kerry (D).[12]
Campaign donors
Brian Froelich
| Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-primary[13] | May 30 | $0.00 | $18,336.50 | $(5,952.38) | $12,386.50 | ||||
| July Quarterly[14] | July 15 | $12,386.50 | $4,179.25 | $(5,531.90) | $11,213.85 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $22,515.75 | $(11,484.28) | ||||||||
Chris Smith
| Chris Smith Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | April 15 | $180,101.03 | $115,525.09 | $(38,086.45) | $257,539.67 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[16] | May 24 | $257,539.67 | $7,133.09 | $(18,482.35) | $246,190.41 | ||||
| July Quarterly[17] | July 15 | $246,190.41 | $112,534.82 | $(51,936.92) | $306,788.31 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $235,193 | $(108,505.72) | ||||||||
Race background
Incumbent Chris Smith had represented New Jersey's strongly Republican 4th District since 1980. Former Navy seal Terrence McGowan challenged Smith in the primary. McGowan said he was dissatisfied with the representation from Smith, who he alleges lives full-time in Virginia. However, Smith's campaign responded that he lives in Robbinsville, which is the eastern part of the 4th District.[18][7]
District history
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Chris Smith was re-elected to the United States House for a sixteenth term. He defeated Howard Kleinhendler (D), Joe Siano (Libertarian), Steven Welzer (Green), and David R. Meiswinkle (American Renaissance Movement).[19]
| United States House, New Jersey General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Chris Smith Incumbent |
69.4% | 129,752 | |
| Democratic | Howard Kleinhendler | 27.9% | 52,118 | |
| Libertarian | Joe Siano | 1.6% | 2,912 | |
| Green | Steven Welzer | 0.8% | 1,574 | |
| American Renaissance Movement | David R. Meiswinkle | 0.3% | 582 | |
| Total Votes | 186,938 | |||
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
- ↑ Politico, "2012 House Race Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ 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
- ↑ The Times of Trenton "Opinion: U.S. economy would benefit from air quality improvements," September 13, 2011
- ↑ Nj.gov "Candidate List" accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 NJSpotlight, "U.S. Congressional Race: District 4," May 22, 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, "Pre-primary," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "July Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "April Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pre-primary," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "July Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Email with Smith campaign, July 26, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
