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New York's 6th Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
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November 6, 2012 |
June 26, 2012 |
Grace Meng  |
Gregory W. Meeks |
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The 6th Congressional District of New York held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Grace Meng was re-elected on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: New York had a closed primary system, meaning only registered members of a particular party could vote in that party's primary.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by June 1, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 12, 2012, or October 26, 2012 in person.[2]
- See also: New York elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Gregory W. Meeks (D), who was first elected to the House in 1998. Due to redistricting, Meeks ran in the 5th District, and 5th District incumbent Gary Ackerman's territory would be the 6th, but Ackerman did not seek re-election in 2012.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. New York's 6th Congressional District was located in the eastern portion of the state and includes Queens county.[3]
Fusion voting
New York is one of eight states that have "electoral fusion" -- which allows more than one political party to support a common candidate. This creates a situation where one candidate will appear multiple times on the same ballot, for the same position. Electoral fusion was once widespread across the United States, but is now commonly practiced only in New York.
Opponents of fusion voting argue that the process results in dealmaking to ensure that patronage is rampant.[4] Proponents maintain that fusion voting allows for minor parties to actually make a difference during the election, allowing voters the opportunity to vote for a minority party platform but still affect the general election result.[5]
Candidates that appeared in the general election are listed below with colored dots corresponding to any party they represented on the ballot.
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 26, 2012 primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Grace Meng |
67.8% | 111,501 | |
| Republican | Daniel Halloran | 30.9% | 50,846 | |
| Green | Evergreen Chou | 1.2% | 1,913 | |
| N/A | Write-in votes | 0.1% | 114 | |
| Total Votes | 164,374 | |||
| Source: New York State Board of Elections, "NYS Board of Elections Rep. in Congress Election Returns Nov. 6, 2012," accessed September 1, 2021 | ||||
Race background
Democratic primary
Rory Lancman and Grace Meng, both members of the New York Assembly, ran for the Democratic nod in the 6th, along with city councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and physician Robert Mittman. Elizabeth Crowley's cousin, U.S. Representative and Queens Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Crowley, endorsed Meng over his relative. As a local Democratic leader, the congressman was heavily invested in the race; analysts suggested he would benefit from backing a winner after he endorsed a candidate in 2010 who went on to lose to Republican Bob Turner in an upset.[10]
Regardless, the party was not expected to lose the seat. Joe Crowley's interest in supporting Meng was more about bolstering the "perceived strengths" of the local Democratic organization, analysts said.[10] Meng had the cash advantage, as well as the race advantage in a 40-percent Asian district. She also was endorsed by The New York Times and EMILY's List,[10] among others.[11]
Lancman made a race of it, however. He was endorsed by the New York Daily News and the Queens Chronicle, and strongly pursued the Jewish vote.[10] He and Meng also were involved in some intense campaigning, each sharply criticizing the other.[12][13] Lancman sent out a mass mailing decrying Meng's and Crowley's stances on Israel and national defense.[13]
Lancman also accused Meng of not supporting New York Assembly legislation to increase the tax on millionaires. Meng said she was instrumental in passing the measure, and some Assembly leadership have said both Lancman and Meng played a big roll in the new tax bill.[12]
Elizabeth Crowley mostly stayed out of attack mode, but released an ad accusing Lancman of being too involved in the redistricting process and benefiting himself with the redrawn lines.[14]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in New York
Following the results of the 2010 Census, New York lost two congressional seats, bringing its total number of representatives down from 29 to 27. According to a report in the Washington Post political blog "The Fix," New York was one of the top 10 redistricting battles in the nation.[15]
The 6th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[16][17]
- 35 percent from the 5th Congressional District
- 6 percent from the 6th Congressional District
- 6 percent from the 7th Congressional District
- 51 percent from the 9th Congressional District
- 2 percent from the 12th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 29, 2012, District 6 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New York State Board of Elections:
| New York Congressional District 6[18] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 6 | 319,385 | 183,382 | 51,912 | 84,091 | Democratic | 253.26% | -654.95% |
| "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 York's 6th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[19]
- 2012: 60D / 40R
- 2010: 85D / 15R
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 York's 6th Congressional District had a PVI of D+12, which was the 84th most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 64-36 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 63-37 percent over George W. Bush (R).[20]
District history
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Gregory W. Meeks was re-elected to the United States House for a seventh term. He defeated Asher E. Taub (R who also ran on the Conservative Party ticket).[21]
| U.S. House, New York Congressional District 6 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Gregory W. Meeks Incumbent |
76.3% | 85,096 | |
| Blank/Scattering | 13.1% | 14,651 | ||
| Republican | Asher E. Taub | 10.6% | 11,826 | |
| Total Votes | 111,573 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in New York, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ York ABC News, "2012 General Election Results," accessed November 6, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "Voting Deadline Page," accessed June 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed August 31, 2012
- ↑ Clarence Bee, "State Senate candidate calls for an end to fusion voting", accessed September 19, 2013
- ↑ Oregon Working Family Party, "What is Fusion Voting?", accessed September 19, 2013
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 NYTimes blog "Three officials announce bids to replace Ackerman," March 19, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 New York Board of Elections "List of Filings for June 26, 2012 Federal Primary," accessed May 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Elections "2012 Candidate List"
- ↑ New York Elections "2012 Candidate List"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Roll Call, "Democratic Primary Going to Wire in Queens," June 19, 2012
- ↑ New York Daily News, "Elizabeth Crowley, Grace Meng Log NY-6 Nods," April 23, 2012
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 New York Daily News, "Queens rivals for Congress duke it out," June 7, 2012
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Capital New York, "Lancman goes nuclear in a mail piece against Meng and Crowley," June 19, 2012
- ↑ Politicker, "Elizabeth Crowley Takes The Gloves Off, Bops Lancman [Video," June 18, 2012]
- ↑ Washington Post, "The Fix," "Redistricting battles hit a fever pitch," June 3, 2011
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "New York's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "District Active Enrollment 2012," April, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in New York," 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
