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Ohio's 16th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
March 6, 2012 |
Jim Renacci  |
Jim Renacci |
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The 16th Congressional District of Ohio held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Incumbent Jim Renacci won the election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Ohio has a mostly closed primary system, in which voters must vote in the same party's primary as in the previous election, or register with the other party to switch.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by February 5. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 7.[2]
- See also: Ohio elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was James B. Renacci (R) who has served since 2011.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Ohio's 16th Congressional District is located in the north-central portion of the state and includes Lorain, Medina, Summit, Portage, Stark, and Wayne 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
March 6, 2012 primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Betty Sutton | 48% | 170,600 | |
| Republican |  James B. Renacci Incumbent |
52% | 185,165 | |
| Total Votes | 355,765 | |||
| Source: Ohio Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Race background
In the final two weeks before the election, candidate James B. Renacci changed his plans to air tv advertisements. He had slots reserved for these two weeks, but since Cleveland is home to close races for Senate, House and Presidential elections, he decided that the market was saturated and that continuing to advertise on TV would not help him reach undecided voters. His opponent, 13th District incumbent Betty Sutton, continued to advertise.[5]
Competitiveness
Using the Federal Election Commission's October Quarterly campaign finance filings, the Brennan Center for Justice at The New York University School of Law published a report on October 22nd focusing on the 25 House races rated most competitive by The Cook Political Report, including the race for Ohio's 16th. The report examined the relative spending presence of non-candidate groups, candidates, and small donors in these races - "which will likely determine which party will control the House."[6]
| List of 25 Toss Up Races from the Cook Political Report:[7] | |
|---|---|
|
Democratic Toss Ups: Republican Toss Ups: | |
Ohio's 16th was considered to be a Tossup according to the New York Times race ratings. Democratic incumbent Betty Sutton faced off against Republican incumbent Jim Renacci in one of the two incumbent vs incumbent races in the nation. The district's new boundaries favor Renacci as does his 3:2 cash advantage in the race.[8]
The Washington Post listed the House of Representatives elections in Ohio in 2012 as one of the 10 states that could determine whether Democrats would retake the House or Republicans would hold their majority in 2013.[9] Ohio tied with Pennsylvania for 9th on the list.[9]
Incumbent Jim Renacci was a part of the National Republican Congressional Committee's Patriot Program, a program to help House Republicans stay on offense and increase their majority in 2012.[10]
Impact of Redistricting
Because of redistricting, Renacci faced current 13th District incumbent Rep. Betty Sutton (D). Sutton's home was moved into the 16th District.[11]
The 16th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[12][13]
- 30 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 21 percent from the 13th Congressional District
- 41 percent from the 16th Congressional District
- 8 percent from the 17th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 29, 2012, District 17 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the Ohio Secretary of State:
| Ohio Congressional District 17[14] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 17 | 499,504 | 76,869 | 114,517 | 308,118 | Republican | 48.98% | N/A |
| "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. Ohio's 16th District became more Republican because of redistricting.[15]
- 2012: 44D / 56R
- 2010: 45D / 55R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measures each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. Ohio's 16th Congressional District has a PVI of R+5, which is the 191st most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 52-48 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 55-45 percent over John Kerry (D).[16]
Campaign contributions
The race had attracted $6.8 million in satellite spending since Labor Day. $3,245,017 had been spent helping Democrat Betty Sutton while $3,534,313 was spent to aid Republican Jim Renacci.[17]
Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are candidate reports.
Betty Sutton
| Betty Sutton (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[18] | March 31, 2012 | $438,897.49 | $391,357.30 | $(46,489.16) | $783,765.63 | ||||
| July Quarterly[19] | July 15, 2012 | $783,765.63 | $294,127.70 | $(174,182.85) | $903,710.48 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $685,485 | $(220,672.01) | ||||||||
Jim Renacci
| Jim Renacci(2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[20] | March 31, 2012 | $1,027,173.04 | $322,930.97 | $(119,075.03) | $1,231,028.98 | ||||
| July Quarterly[21] | July 15 | $1,231,028.98 | $504,369.99 | $(186,106.67) | $1,549,292.30 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $827,300.96 | $(305,181.7) | ||||||||
District history
2010
On November 2, 2010, Jim Renacci won election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated John A. Boccieri, Jeffrey J. Blevins, and Robert L. Ross in the general election.[22]
| U.S. House of Representatives, Ohio Congressional District 16 Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | James B. Renacci |
52.1% | 114,652 | |
| Democratic | John A. Boccieri | 41.3% | 90,833 | |
| Libertarian | Jeffrey J. Blevins | 6.6% | 14,585 | |
| Write-in | Robert L. Ross | 0% | 67 | |
| Total Votes | 220,137 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Ohio, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Ohio, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Ohio," accessed November 11, 2012
- ↑ Ohio Secretary of State, "FAQ," accessed June 29, 2012
- ↑ Ohio Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed August 9, 2012
- ↑ Cleveland.com, "Low-profile Libertarian candidate Jeffrey Blevins quits congressional race," August 23, 2012
- ↑ NYT: The Caucus, "Ohio House Candidate Cancels Advertising Buy" accessed October 26, 2012
- ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Election Spending 2012: 25 Toss-Up House Races," October 22, 2012
- ↑ The Cook Political Report, "House: Race Ratings," updated October 18, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 10, 2012
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Washington Post, "The 10 states that will determine control of the House in 2012," accessed April 25, 2012
- ↑ NRCC "Patriot Program 2012"
- ↑ Vindy.com Redistricting plan to be unveiled December 7, 2011
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Ohio's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ Ohio Secretary of State, "Precinct-By-Precinct Data," March 6, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Ohio," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ The New York Times, "Outside Spending in Key House Races," October 25, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Betty Sutton April Quarterly," accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Betty Sutton July Quarterly," accessed October 5, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Jim Renacci April Quarterly," accessed July 17, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Jim Renacci July Quarterly," accessed October 5, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
