Texas' 25th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
May 29, 2012 |
Roger Williams  |
Lloyd Doggett  |
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The 25th Congressional District of Texas held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Roger Williams (R) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Due to redistricting, incumbent Lloyd Doggett (D) ran for election to Texas' 35th District seat.[1] This switched partisan control of the district.
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Texas 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. Texas also scheduled a primary runoff for July 31, 2012.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by April 30.[2] For the July 31, 2012, the vote registration deadline was July 2. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9.[3]
- See also: Texas elections, 2012
Incumbent: Democrat Lloyd Doggett, who represented 25th Congressional District of Texas since 2005, would run for re-election in the new 35th District.[4]
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Texas' 25th Congressional District was located in the central portion of the state, and included Hays, Travis, Burnett, Lampasas, Coryell, Hamilton, Erath, Sommerell, Bosque, Hill and Johnson counties.[5]
* Redistricting note: Due to legal turmoil in the redistricting process, filing deadlines were changed twice and the primary was changed once. The original filing deadline was December 12th.[6] That deadline was first moved to December 15th and then December 19th by a federal court due to delays caused by redistricting legal challenges. When a final map was issued, the December 19th deadline was once again moved to March 9 to allow candidates more time to file in light of the delays and map ambiguities. The primary date was first moved from March 6 to April 3, 2012 before finally settling on May 29.[7]
Primary runoff
The close race between Wes Riddle and Roger Williams was decided by a primary runoff election. This meant that it was likely decided by a very small percentage of voters. In 2000, runoff elections attracted roughly 2% of registered voters, while in 1996, they drew between 3 and 4% of registered voters.[8]
Candidates
General election candidates
July 31, 2012, Republican primary runoff candidates
May 29, 2012, primary results
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Election results
General election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Roger Williams |
58.4% | 154,245 | |
| Democratic | Elaine M. Henderson | 37.4% | 98,827 | |
| Libertarian | Betsy Dewey | 4.1% | 10,860 | |
| Total Votes | 263,932 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Texas
The 25th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[11][12]
- 1 percent from the 6th Congressional District
- 3 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 9 percent from the 11th Congressional District
- 29 percent from the 17th Congressional District
- 17 percent from the 21st Congressional District
- 29 percent from the 25th Congressional District
- 13 percent from the 31st Congressional District
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
- 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. Texas' 25th District became more Republican as a result of redistricting.[13]
- 2012: 40D / 60R
- 2010: 56D / 44R
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. Texas' 25th Congressional District has a PVI of R+10, which is the 105th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 57-43 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush won the district 62-38 percent over John Kerry (D).[14]
Campaign issues
- Obama impeachment
- Tea Party activist Wes Riddle campaigned on a platform that involved impeaching President Barack Obama. He promised to begin the impeachment process as soon as he entered Congress, because of a treaty in which Obama ceded seven islands in the Arctic Ocean to Russia. In actuality, the island were ceded in 1991 under President George H.W. Bush.[15]
- Riddle also stated that he wanted to impeach Obama because of "President Obama’s abuse of power and blatant disregard to the Constitution."[15]
District history
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Lloyd Doggett won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Donna Campbell (R) and Jim Stutsman (L).[16]
| U.S. House of Representatives General Election, Texas, Congressional District 25, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Lloyd Doggett Incumbent |
52.8% | 99,967 | |
| Republican | Donna Campbell | 44.8% | 84,849 | |
| Libertarian | Jim Stutsman | 2.3% | 4,431 | |
| Total Votes | 189,247 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Texas, 2012
External links
- Texas Democrats - candidate list (dead link)
- Texas GOP - candidate list
- Texas Libertarian Party - candidate list (dead link)
- Texas Green Party - candidate list
- Texas Secretary of State - Independent candidate list (dead link)
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "2012 General Election Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2012 Primary Election Calendar," accessed July 27, 2012
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "You Must Register By...," accessed July 27, 2012
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Castro To Take On Doggett for New Congressional Seat," September 14, 2011
- ↑ Texas Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Important 2012 Election Dates," accessed July 15, 2011
- ↑ Washington Post, "Federal court orders May 29 primary date for Texas in redistricting case
- ↑ Texas Watchdog, "Compelling runoffs in Texas Congressional primaries, but will the voters come?" July 23, 2012
- ↑ Republican candidates for U.S. House
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 Star-Telegram, "A crowded District 6 race", September 14, 2011
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Texas's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ FairVote, "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Texas," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Think Progress, "Republican Congressional Candidate Wants To Impeach Obama For ‘Giving Away’ Seven Arctic Islands," June 22, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
