Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
South Carolina's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
|
 |
November 6, 2012 |
June 12, 2012 |
Trey Gowdy  |
Trey Gowdy |
 |
 |
The 4th Congressional District of South Carolina held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Trey Gowdy was re-elected on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: South Carolina has an open primary system, in which any registered voter can choose which party's primary to vote in, without having to be a member of that party. In South Carolina's June 26, 2012 primary runoffs, however, voters had to vote in the same party whose primary they voted in.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by May 12, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 6, 2012.[2]
- See also: South Carolina elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Rep. Trey Gowdy (R), who had served since 2011.
The fourth district is located in upstate South Carolina, bordering North Carolina. It includes Greenville and Spartanburg 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 12, 2012, primary results
|
|
|
|
|
Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Deb Morrow | 33.7% | 89,964 | |
| Republican |  Trey Gowdy Incumbent |
64.9% | 173,201 | |
| Green | Jeff Sumerel | 1.3% | 3,390 | |
| N/A | Write-In | 0.1% | 329 | |
| Total Votes | 266,884 | |||
| Source: South Carolina State Election Commission "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Democratic Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Deb Morrow |
70.6% | 3,678 |
| Jimmy Tobias | 29.4% | 1,528 |
| Total Votes | 5,206 | |
Impact of Redistricting
- See also Redistricting in South Carolina
The new 4th District is composed entirely of voters of the old 4th Congressional District.[5][6]
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. South Carolina's 4th District partisan breakdown did not change because of redistricting.[7]
- 2012: 35D / 65R
- 2010: 35D / 65R
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. South Carolina's 4th Congressional District had a PVI of R+15, which was the 48th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 62-38 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 66-34 percent over John Kerry (D).[8]
Campaign contributions
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.
Trey Gowdy
| Trey Gowdy (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[9] | March 31, 2012 | $325,213.33 | $114,770.12 | $(33,124.08) | $406,859.37 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $114,770.12 | $(33,124.08) | ||||||||
District history
2010
On November 2, 2010, Gowdy won election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Paul Corden, and Dave Edwards in the general election.[10]
| U.S. House of Representatives, South Carolina Congressional District 4 Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Trey Gowdy |
65.2% | 137,586 | |
| Democratic | Paul Corden | 29.6% | 62,438 | |
| Constitution | Dave Edwards | 5.2% | 11,059 | |
| Total Votes | 211,083 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in South Carolina, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ Carolina ABC News, "2012 General Election Results," accessed November 6, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ South Carolina Votes, "2012 Election Calendar," accessed July 27, 2012
- ↑ South Carolina Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 30, 2012
- ↑ opensecrets.org "South Carolina" accessed February 2, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "South Carolina's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in South Carolina," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Trey Gowdy April Quarterly," accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
