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Utah's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 26, 2012 |
Jason Chaffetz  |
Jason Chaffetz |
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The 3rd Congressional District of Utah held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Incumbent Jason Chaffetz won re-election on November 6, 2012, having defeated Democrat Soren Simonsen in the general election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Utah has a mixed primary system, with Republicans having a closed primary and Democrats having an open one. Both parties hold conventions prior to the primaries.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by October 7, 2011 or October 22, 2011 in-person. For the general election, voter registration deadlines were October 7, 2012 and October 22, 2012 in-person.[2]
- See also: Utah elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Jason Chaffetz (R), who was first elected to the House in 2008, and was re-elected in the general election on November 6, 2012.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Utah's 3rd Congressional District is located in the eastern portion of the state, and includes Daggett, Summit, Morgan, Utah, Wasatch, Duchesne, Uintah, Carbon, Grand, Emery, Sanpete, Sevier, Piute, Wayne, Garfield, San Juan, and Kane 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
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Election results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Jason Chaffetz Incumbent |
76.6% | 198,828 | |
| Democratic | Soren D. Simonsen | 23.4% | 60,719 | |
| Total Votes | 259,547 | |||
| Source: Utah Lieutenant Governor "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Race background
Democratic convention
In the April 21, 2012 Democratic convention, delegates selected Soren Simonsen over Richard Clark for the party nomination.[6][7] There was no primary for the 3rd District.[7]
Republican convention
In the April 21, 2012 Republican convention, the party nominated incumbent Jason Chaffetz to be the Republican candidate in the general election. Chaffetz received 75 percent of the delegate votes, defeating Lynn Wardle and Brian Jenkins.[8] No Republican primary was held for the 3rd Congressional District.[7]
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.
Jason Chaffetz
| Jason Chaffetz Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Convention[9] | April 1, 2012 | $130,916.40 | $145,090.16 | $(115,778.56) | $160,228.00 | ||||
| July Quarterly[10] | July 13, 2012 | $160,228.00 | $51,087.55 | $(78,997.45) | $132,318.10 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $196,177.71 | $(194,776.01) | ||||||||
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Utah
Utah was redistricted following the 2010 Census and received a fourth Congressional seat.
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. Utah's 3rd District partisan breakdown did not change because of redistricting.[11]
- 2012: 27D / 73R
- 2010: 27D / 73R
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. Utah's 3rd Congressional District had a PVI of R+25, which was the 7th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 70-30 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 78-22 percent over John Kerry (D).[12]
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Jason Chaffetz won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Karen Hyer (D), Douglas Sligting (Constitution), Jake Shannon (L), and Joseph L. Puente (I).[13]
| U.S. House of Representatives General Election, Utah, Congressional District 3, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Jason Chaffetz Incumbent |
72.3% | 139,721 | |
| Democratic | Karen Hyer | 22.9% | 44,320 | |
| Constitution | Douglas Sligting | 2.4% | 4,596 | |
| Libertarian | Jake Shannon | 1.5% | 2,945 | |
| Unaffiliated | Joseph L. Puente | 0.8% | 1,604 | |
| Total Votes | 193,186 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Utah, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Utah, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "General Election Results 2012-Utah," November 7, 2012
- ↑ Utah Lieutenant Governor, "Voting Registration Deadlines," accessed July 6, 2012
- ↑ Utah Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office: Elections "2012 Candidate Filings," accessed March 16, 2012
- ↑ Deseret News "Rep. Jason Chaffetz running again, but not against Sen. Orrin Hatch," accessed December 4, 2011
- ↑ Utah Democratic Party, "2012 U.S. House candidates," accessed May 27, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Utah Lt. Gov. Office: Elections, "2012 Candidate Filings," accessed May 27, 2012
- ↑ UtahGOP "Election Results: Utah Congressional District 3," April 21, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Friends of Jason Chaffetz Pre-Convention," accessed July 13, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Friends of Jason Chaffetz July Quarterly," accessed July 20, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Utah," 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
