New Jersey's 5th Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
|
 |
November 6, 2012 |
June 5, 2012 |
Scott Garrett  |
Scott Garrett |
 |
 |
The 5th Congressional District of New Jersey held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Scott Garrett 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 Scott Garrett (R), who was first elected to the House in 2002.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. New Jersey's 5th Congressional District was located in the northern portion of the state and included much of the northern portions of Warren, Sussex, Passaic, and Bergen counties.[3]
Race background
Incumbent Scott Garrett had held the seat for the past ten years, but redistricting could have given challenger Adam Gussen a shot. Some of the more rural conservative parts of the district had been replaced by urban neighborhoods. Democrats had the registration advantage in the newly added portions but were still down 28 to 25 percent. The race was not yet on national radar, but a Bergen County Republican Organization poll showed incumbent Garrett only leading Gussen by two percentage points.[4]
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
|
|
|
|
Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Adam Gussen | 42.7% | 130,100 | |
| Republican |  Scott Garrett Incumbent |
55% | 167,501 | |
| Green | Patricia Alessandrini | 2.2% | 6,770 | |
| Total Votes | 304,371 | |||
| Source: New Jersey Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Democratic Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Adam Gussen |
54.9% | 10,208 |
| Jason Castle | 34.7% | 6,448 |
| Diane Sare | 10.4% | 1,925 |
| Total Votes | 18,581 | |
Republican Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Scott Garrett Incumbent |
87.2% | 24,709 |
| Michael Cino | 7.4% | 2,107 |
| Bonnie Somer | 5.3% | 1,511 |
| Total Votes | 28,327 | |
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. Under the new map, the 5th District would now encompass much of the territory of 9th District incumbent Steve Rothman. Rothman chose to face fellow Democratic incumbent Bill Pascrell in the newly drawn 9th instead of take on Garrett, in the Republican-leaning new 5th.[9]
The 5th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[10][11]
- 82 percent from the 5th Congressional District
- 18 percent from the 9th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 25, 2012, District 5 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New Jersey Secretary of State:
| New Jersey Congressional District 5[12] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 5 | 465,460 | 115,746 | 128,831 | 220,883 | Republican | 11.30% | -25.08% |
| "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 5th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[13]
- 2012: 45D / 55R
- 2010: 42D / 58R
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 5th Congressional District had a PVI of R+4, which was the 197th 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 54-46 percent over John Kerry (D).[14]
Campaign donors
Scott Garrett
| Scott Garrett Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | April 15 | $1,712,258.37 | $285,280.09 | $(130,241.86) | $1,867,296.60 | ||||
| Pre-primary[16] | May 24 | $1,867,296.60 | $168,762.90 | $(46,769.87) | $1,989,289.63 | ||||
| July Quarterly[17] | July 15 | $1,989,289.63 | $250,006.91 | $(108,962.03) | $2,130,334.51 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $704,049.9 | $(285,973.76) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
|---|
 |
| Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. |
2010
On November 2, 2010, Scott Garrett was re-elected to the United States House for a fifth term. He defeated Tod Theise (D), Ed Fanning (Green), Mark D. Quick (For Americans), and James Douglas Radigan (Be Determined).[18]
| United States House, New Jersey General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Scott Garrett Incumbent |
64.9% | 124,030 | |
| Democratic | Tod Theise | 32.8% | 62,634 | |
| Green | Ed Fanning | 1.2% | 2,347 | |
| For Americans | Mark D. Quick | 0.9% | 1,646 | |
| Be Determined | James Douglas Radigan | 0.2% | 336 | |
| Total Votes | 190,993 | |||
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
- ↑ NJ Spotlight, "Democratic Challenger Harbors High Hopes in 5th District," accessed October 10, 2012
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 NJ.com "Teaneck deputy mayor plans bid to unseat Scott Garrett," January 9, 2012
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 NJ.gov "U.S. Senate Primary Candidates," accessed April 2, 2012
- ↑ Politicker NJ "Republican Cino running against Garrett
- ↑ NJ.gov "Candidate List" accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ NJ.com, "Rep. Steve Rothman to challenge Rep. Bill Pascrell in June Democratic primary," accessed December 30, 2011
- ↑ 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, "April Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Pre-primary," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "July Quarterly," accessed September 27, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
