Virginia's 2nd Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 12, 2012 |
Scott Rigell  |
Scott Rigell |
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The 2nd Congressional District of Virginia held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Scott Rigell was re-elected on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Virginia has an open primary system, in which any registered voter may choose which party's primary to vote in.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by May 21, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 15, 2012.[2]
- See also: Virginia elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Scott Rigell (R), who was first elected to the House in 2010.
This was the first election which used new district maps based on 2010 Census data. Virginia's 2nd Congressional District is located in the eastern portion of the state, and includes Accomack, Northampton, and Virginia Beach City 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
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Paul Hirschbiel | 46.1% | 142,548 | |
| Republican |  Scott Rigell Incumbent |
53.8% | 166,231 | |
| Write-In | N/A | 0.1% | 443 | |
| Total Votes | 309,222 | |||
| Source: Virginia State Board of Elections, "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Race background
Virginia's 2nd was considered to be Leaning Republican according to the New York Times race ratings. Republican incumbent Scott Rigell was challenged by Paul Hirschbiel, a moderate Democrat.[6]
Virginia's 2nd District was included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue List," which identified districts that the organization specifically targeted to flip from Republican to Democratic control.[7]
Incumbent Scott Rigell 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.[8]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Virginia
Following the results of the 2010 Census, Virginia was redistricted in order to more evenly distribute representation among the population.
The 2nd District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[9][10]
- 12 percent from the 1st Congressional District
- 84 percent from the 2nd Congressional District
- 4 percent from the 3rd Congressional District
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. Virginia's 2nd District partisan breakdown did not change because of redistricting.[11]
- 2012: 47D / 53R
- 2010: 47D / 53R
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. Virginia's 2nd Congressional District has a PVI of R+5, which is the 181st most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 51-49 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 58-42 percent over John Kerry (D).[12]
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 the candidate's reports.
Paul Hirschbiel
| Paul Hirschbiel Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[13] | April 14, 2012 | $438,000.54 | $326,766.53 | $(85,512.38) | $679,254.69 | ||||
| July Quarterly[14] | July 15, 2012 | $650,736.18 | $228,042.10 | $(61,696.21) | $797,082.07 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $554,808.63 | $(147,208.59) | ||||||||
Scott Rigell
| Scott Rigell Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[15] | April 15, 2012 | $712,322.21 | $293,257.19 | $(107,327.37) | $898,252.07 | ||||
| July Quarterly[16] | July 13, 2012 | $890,976.48 | $233,029.54 | $(53,888.55) | $1,070,117.47 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $526,286.73 | $(161,215.92) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Scott Rigell won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating incumbent Glenn C. Nye (D), Kenny E. Golden (I), and a write-in.[17]
| U.S. House of Representatives General Election, Virginia, Congressional District 2, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | E. Scott Rigell |
53.1% | 88,340 | |
| Democratic | Glenn C. Nye Incumbent | 42.5% | 70,591 | |
| Independent | Kenny E. Golden | 4.3% | 7,194 | |
| Write-in | Unnamed | 0.1% | 164 | |
| Total Votes | 166,289 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Virginia, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ ABC News, "2012 General Election Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Virginia State Board of Elections, "2012 November Election Calendar," accessed July 7, 2012
- ↑ Virginia Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Virginian-Pilot "Va. Beach businessman seeks U.S. House seat," accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ Virginian-Pilot "Rigell's rookie year: No triumph, many tests," accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 10, 2012
- ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
- ↑ NRCC "Patriot Program 2012"
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Virginia's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Virginia," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, Paul Hirschbiel's April Quarterly report," accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Paul Hirschbiel's July Quarterly report," accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Scott Rigell's April Quarterly report," accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Scott Rigell's July Quarterly report," accessed September 19, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
