New York's 9th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 26, 2012 |
Yvette Clarke ![]() |
Bob Turner ![]() |
The 9th Congressional District of New York held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Yvette Clarke was re-elected on November 6, 2012.[1]
Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
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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 Bob Turner (R), who was first elected to the House in 2011. Due to redistricting, Turner instead ran for U.S. Senate[3] Redistricting puts 11th District incumbent Yvette Clarke into the new 9th.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. New York's 9th Congressional District was located in the eastern portion of the state and includes Kings county.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6]
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 | |
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Democratic | ![]() |
87.2% | 186,141 | |
Republican | Daniel Cavanagh | 11.3% | 24,164 | |
Green | Vivia Morgan | 1.4% | 2,991 | |
N/A | Write-in votes | 0.1% | 135 | |
Total Votes | 213,431 | |||
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
Attorney Sylvia Kinard challenged incumbent Yvette Clarke in the June 26, 2012 Democratic primary. Kinard, who is also a minister, formerly worked as Senior Legislative Attorney for the New York City Council.[8] She was focused on addressing local concerns of unemployment and education. Kinard wanted to ensure government jobs weren't outsourced, and supported small businesses. She also said she would fight to bring more education arts funding to New York.[9]
President Barack Obama backed Clarke.[10] He said that Clarke had worked "to give a voice to the voiceless, whether it was improving educational opportunity for children, expanding access to healthcare for women in need, or helping small businesses expand and add new jobs."[11]
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.[12]
The 9th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[13][14]
- 15 percent from the 9th Congressional District
- 9 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 76 percent from the 11th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 29, 2012, District 9 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New York State Board of Elections:
New York Congressional District 9[15] | |||||||
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Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
District 9 | 368,841 | 277,210 | 27,267 | 64,364 | Democratic | 916.65% | 701.05% |
"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 9th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[16]
- 2012: 80D / 20R
- 2010: 87D / 13R
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 9th Congressional District had a PVI of D+31, which was the 12 most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 85-15 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 81-19 percent over George W. Bush (R).[17]</nowiki>
District history
Candidate ballot access |
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2011
On September 13, 2011, Bob Turner won a special election to the United States House.

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
- ↑ NY Daily News, "Breaking: Rep. Bob Turner To Challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand - Source," March 13, 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
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 New York Board of Elections "List of Filings for June 26, 2012 Federal Primary," accessed May 30, 2012
- ↑ Ditmas Park Patch, "Ditmas Park election guide," June 15, 2012
- ↑ Prospect Heights Patch, "Congresswoman Clarke's Challenger Runs on Platform of Visibility, Inclusiveness," June 15, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ Capital New York, "Obama endorses Nydia Velazquez," June 15, 2012
- ↑ New York Daily News blog, "Nothing Like A Little Support From The Prez To Get People Talking," June 14, 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