Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Washington's 4th Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
|
 |
November 6, 2012 |
August 7, 2012 |
Doc Hastings  |
Doc Hastings |
 |
 |
The 4th Congressional District of Washington held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Incumbent Doc Hastings (R) won re-election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Washington has a top-two primary system, in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, go on to the general election.[2]
Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by July 9, 2012 or July 30, 2012 in-person for first-time voters.[3] For the general election, voter registration deadlines were October 9, 2012, and October 28, 2012 for first-time voters.[3]
- See also: Washington elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Doc Hastings (R), who was first elected to the House in 1994.
This was the first election which used new district maps based on 2010 Census data. Washington's 4th Congressional District is located in the central portion of the state, and includes Okanogan, Douglas, Grant, Adams, Franklin, Benton, Walla Walla, and Yakima counties.[4]
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
August 7, 2012, primary results
|
|
Election results
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Doc Hastings Incumbent |
66.2% | 154,749 | |
| Democratic | Mary Baechler | 33.8% | 78,940 | |
| Total Votes | 233,689 | |||
| Source: Washington Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Doc Hastings (R) Incumbent |
59.3% | 60,774 |
| Mary Baechler (D) |
26.5% | 27,130 |
| Jaime Wheeler (R) | 11.3% | 11,581 |
| Mohammad H. Said (D) | 2.9% | 2,958 |
| Total Votes | 102,443 | |
Primary
Washington's top-two primary system meant voters chose from the full field of candidates on August 7, 2012, and the top two vote-getters went on to the general election, regardless of their party.
Republican incumbent Doc Hastings won with almost 68% of the vote in 2010. This year he was challenged by fellow Republican Jamie Wheeler and Democrats Mary Baechler and Mohammad Said.
As of late July, 2012, Hastings had a huge lead in fundraising.[6] Physician Said and tea party activist Wheeler had under $5,000 each, with professional community organizer Baechler just exceeding that in the last reporting period.[6]
On the issues, Hastings had a record of supporting budget cuts and opposing the Affordable Care Act. Wheeler wanted to defund several major federal agencies. Palestinian-born Said focused on foreign policy issues, wanting a nuclear-free Middle East. Baechler would seek to defend Social Security and Medicare programs.[6]
The district Democratic Party backed Baechler.[6]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Washington
Washington gained a congressional seat following the 2010 Census, bringing its total up to 10. The newly redrawn 4th runs through eastern Washington from Canada to the Columbia, including Yakima and Adams Counties in the south and Okanogan County in the north.[7]
The 4th District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[8][9]
- 91 percent from the 4th Congressional District
- 9 percent from the 5th 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. Washington's 4th District became more Republican because of redistricting.[10]
- 2012: 37D / 63R
- 2010: 37D / 63R
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. Washington's 4th Congressional District had a PVI of R+14, which was the 65th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 60-40 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 65-35 percent over John Kerry (D).[11]
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
|---|
 |
| Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. |
2010
On November 2, 2010, Doc Hastings won re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, defeating Jay Clough (D).[12]
| U.S. House of Representatives General Election, Washington, Congressional District 4, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Doc Hastings Incumbent |
67.6% | 156,726 | |
| Democratic | Jay Clough | 32.4% | 74,973 | |
| Total Votes | 231,699 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Washington, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in Washington, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ CNN "Washington Districts Race - 2012 Election Center"
- ↑ Washington Secretary of State, "Top 2 Primary: FAQ," accessed May 17, 2012
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Washington Secretary of State, "Dates and Deadlines," accessed May 25, 2012 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "sos" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid<ref>tag; name "sos" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Washington Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 24, 2012
- ↑ Yakima Herald "Jay Clough ready to challenge Doc Hastings again," accessed December 7, 2011
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 The (Lower Columbia) News-Tribune, "Trio of challengers seeks to unseat Doc Hastings," July 22, 2012
- ↑ Washington Redistricting Commission, "Final Statewide," accessed May 15, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Washington's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Washington," 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
