November 6, 2012 (2012-11-06) 2014 → 4 5 52.07% 43.57% Start date November 6, 2012 | 5 3 1,131,663 946,994 0.96% 1.65% | |
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The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Arizona were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the nine U.S. Representatives from the state, one from each of the state's nine Congressional districts, including the newly created 9th district following the 2010 United States Census. The elections coincided with other federal and state elections, including a quadrennial presidential election, and a U.S. Senate election. Primary elections were held on August 28, 2012. As of 2016, this is the last election in which Democrats won a majority of Arizona's congressional districts.
Contents
Overview
The table below shows the total number and percentage of votes, as well as the number of seats gained and lost by each political party in the election for the United States House of Representatives in Arizona. In addition, the voter turnout and the number of votes not valid will be listed below.
Redistricting
Due to population gains reflected in the 2010 United States Census, Arizona's congressional delegation increased from eight members to nine in 2012. In accordance with the Arizona Constitution, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission produced new congressional district maps for use in the 2012 and following elections. As of November 5, 2011, the commission had produced a draft map of new congressional boundaries and completed a round of public hearings for input on the draft map. The final map, after being cleared for compliance with the Voting Rights Act by the United States Department of Justice, became the official district boundaries for the 2012 and subsequent elections.
On November 1, 2011, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, with the approval of the Arizona Senate, removed Colleen Mathis, the commission's chair, charging Mathis was guilty of "failure to apply the Arizona Constitution's redistricting provisions in an honest, independent and impartial fashion." On November 17, the Arizona Supreme Court overturned Brewer's decision and reinstated Mathis. On November 21, Brewer asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision and to temporarily reverse Mathis' reinstatement. The Supreme Court refused. The map was pre-cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice on April 9, 2012, and is in full effect.
District 1
Based upon the new map, the 1st district is slightly friendlier to Democrats than its predecessor. Incumbent Republican Paul Gosar, first elected in 2010, ran for election in the more conservative 4th district.
Former state senator Jonathan Paton, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in the 8th district in 2010, won the Republican nomination against Douglas "Doug" McKee, a contractor, and Douglas Wade. Former state Representative Bill Konopnicki did not seek the Republican nomination. Gary Pierce, a member of the Arizona Corporation Commission, did not run.
Former U.S. Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, who represented the 1st district from 2009 to 2011; won the Democratic nomination against Wenona Benally Baldenegro, an attorney and member of the Navajo Nation, and Miguel Olivas, a government consultant and one-time staffer for former U.S. Representative Rick Renzi. Kim Allen was the Libertarian nominee. Kirkpatrick won re-election on November 6, 2012.
District 2
Much of 2nd district is composed of land previously located in the 8th district and is thus more favorable to Democrats. Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who had represented the 8th district since 2007, was seriously wounded in a mass shooting in January 2011 and resigned her congressional seat in January 2012. A special election was be held in June 2012 under the boundaries of the current 8th district, with a primary election held in April 2012; in November 2012 another election will take place under the new boundaries of the 2nd district, with a primary scheduled for August 2012.
Ron Barber, Giffords' district director, won the Democratic nomination in the special election. State Representative Matt Heinz and Nomiki Konst, a University of Arizona alumna, will seek the Democratic nomination in the regularly scheduled August 2012 primary but will not run in the special election. State Senator Paula Aboud and state Representative Steve Farley had planned to run in the regularly scheduled primary, but dropped out once Barber decided to run for the full term.
State senator Frank Antenori; Jesse Kelly, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who unsuccessfully challenged Giffords as the Republican nominee in 2010; and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Martha McSally will seek the Republican nomination in both the special election and the regularly scheduled election. Dave Sitton, a sports announcer for the University of Arizona, sought the Republican nomination in the special election but in February 2012 did not commit to run in the regularly scheduled election if unsuccessful in the special election.
John Lervold, a U.S. Army veteran who works as an interrogation instructor at Fort Huachuca, planned to seek the Republican nomination in the special election, saying he would not run in the regularly scheduled election if the special election was won by any other Republican besides himself; however Lervold did not receive enough signatures to appear on the special election primary ballot.
Kelly won the Republican primary on April 17, 2012, but lost to former Giffords aide Ron Barber in a special election. Anthony Powell is the Libertarian nominee. McSally (R) faced Barber (D) and Libertarian Anthony Powell in the general election on November 6, 2012. Barber was declared the winner and McSally conceded on November 17, 2012.
District 3
In the October 2011 redistricting draft proposal, most of the 7th district would become the 3rd district and made more favorable to Democrats. Incumbent Democrat Raúl M. Grijalva, first elected in 2002, said in February 2011 that he had no plans to run for the U.S. Senate.
Former state Senator Amanda Aguirre and J. Manuel "Manny" Arreguin, an OB/GYN, challenged Grijalva in the Democratic primary. David Crowe Robles, a defense contractor, also sought the Democratic nomination, but dropped out of the race in May 2012.
Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, a conservative activist; and Jaime Vasquez, a businessman, both sought the Republican nomination. Ruth McClung, who unsuccessfully challenged Grijalva as the Republican nominee in the 7th district in 2010, did not run. Grijalva easily won re-election on November 6, 2012.
District 4
The new 4th congressional district encompasses most of the rural areas in the old 2nd district, as well as significant portions of the old 1st, 5th, and 6th districts, according to the final maps of the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. The district is heavily Republican.
In the November 6, 2012, general election, Paul Gosar, who has represented the 1st district since 2011, was the Republican Party nominee. He moved to Prescott in order to run in the district. Joe Pamelia, also of Prescott, was the Libertarian Party nominee, Richard Grayson of Apache Junction and Brooklyn was the Americans Elect Party nominee, and Johnnie Robinson of Florence was the Democratic Party nominee. Gosar won re-election on November 6, 2012.
District 5
In the October 2011 redistricting proposal, most of the 6th district would become the 5th district and continue to favor Republicans. Incumbent Republican Jeff Flake, who has represented this district since 2001, sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Kirk Adams, the former Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives; and Matt Salmon, who held the seat from 1995 until 2001, sought the Republican nomination. Russell Pearce, the former president of the state senate announced that he would run for a seat in the Arizona State Senate's new district 25; however, on August 28, 2012, he lost his comeback bid to businessman Bob Worsley, by 56% to 44%.
Chuck Gray, former majority leader of the Arizona Senate, announced in February 2011 that he would seek the Republican nomination but withdrew from the race in December 2011. Travis Grantham, an Arizona Air National Guard captain, had planned to run in the 5th district but announced in January 2012 that he would instead run in the 9th district.
Spencer Morgan, a student at Mesa Community College, won the Democratic nomination. Salmon faced Morgan in the general election on November 6, 2012; Salmon won re-election.
District 6
After redistricting, the bulk of David Schweikert's 5th district became the 9th district, while his home in Fountain Hills was drawn into the newly created 4th district. However, as soon as the maps were released, Schweikert announced he would run in the 6th district. That district had previously been the 3rd, represented by fellow Republican freshman Ben Quayle. However, in a statement announcing his re-election plans, Schweikert pointed out that he'd grown up in Scottsdale—most of which had been drawn into the 6th as well—had represented it in both the state house and in Congress, and owned a second home there. A revised map, however, placed Schweikert's home in Fountain Hills into the reconfigured 6th.
Quayle, whose home in Phoenix had been drawn into the 9th but was just outside the boundaries of the 6th, opted to seek re-election in the 6th as well. During the bitter primary campaign, Schweikert was widely criticised for a mailer that accused Quayle of "going both ways", suggesting that he was bisexual. On the reverse, the mailer listed issues on which it claimed Quayle had taken both liberal and conservative positions. Senator Jon Kyl said that "such campaign tactics insult the voters, degrade politics and expose those who stoop to them as unworthy of high office" and Senator John McCain said the mailer was one of the "worst that I have seen" and that it "crosses the boundary of decent political dialogue and discourse." Quayle's spokeswoman called the mailer "utterly false" and "a sleazy smear tactic." Schweikert's spokesman responded that people "should get their minds out of the gutter" because the mailer was "obviously" referring to "'both ways' -- as in liberal and conservative." The Arizona Republic asked two political scientists to review the mailer, who both said that they had "never seen anybody accuse someone of flip-flopping [on political issues] that way" and said that it was "difficult to believe" that the sexual suggestion was unintentional.
Although the 6th contained almost two-thirds of Quayle's constituents, Schweikert defeated Quayle in the Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district—by 53 percent to Quayle's 47 percent. Matt Jette, a business professor at the Thunderbird School of Global Management who ran for Governor of Arizona as a Republican in 2010, won the Democratic nomination. Schweikert defeated Jette in the November 6, 2012, general election with 62% of the vote.
District 7
In accordance with the draft proposal, most of the 4th district became the 7th district and will remain the most Democratic district in Arizona. Incumbent Democrat Ed Pastor considered a run for the U.S. Senate but decided against it.
State senator Kyrsten Sinema, who considered a bid for Congress and lived in the former 4th district, opted to run in the 9th district.
José Peñalosa, an attorney who lost in the Republican primary in the 4th district in 2010, ran as an Independent candidate.
Pastor won re-election on November 6, 2012.
District 8
In the current draft proposal, most of the Maricopa County portion of the old 2nd district will be renumbered as the 8th district and made more favorable to Republicans. Incumbent Republican Trent Franks, who had considered running for the U.S. Senate, instead ran successfully for re-election.
District 9
Under the draft proposal, most of the old 5th District became the 9th District. It now encompasses portions of southern Phoenix, as well as all of Tempe and parts of Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler and Paradise Valley. It is not considered safe for either party.
Former Democratic state senator Kyrsten Sinema defeated Republican nominee Vernon Parker and Libertarian nominee Powell Gammill. Sinema won the general election on November 6, 2012.