2012 United States elections

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Election day	November 6
Incumbent president	Barack Obama(Democratic)
Next Congress	113th
Presidential election
Partisan control	Democratic hold
Popular vote margin	Democratic +3.9%
Electoral vote
Barack Obama (D)	332
Mitt Romney (R)	206
Presidential election results map.Blue denotes states/districts won by Democrat Barack Obama, andRed denotes those won by Republican Mitt Romney. Numbers indicateelectoral votes allotted to the winner of each state.
Senate elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	33 of 100 seats
Net seat change	Democratic +2
2012 Senate election results map      Democratic hold     Republican hold     Independent hold      Democratic gain     Republican gain     Independent gain
House elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Seats contested	All 435 seats
Popular vote margin	Democratic +1.2%
Net seat change	Democratic +8
2012 House election results map      Democratic hold     Republican hold      Democratic gain     Republican gain
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	14 (12 states, 2 territories) (including arecall election inWisconsin)
Net seat change	Republican +1
2012 gubernatorial election results map      Democratic hold      Republican gain     Republican hold(including recall)      Popular Democratic gain     Nonpartisan

Elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2012.Democratic PresidentBarack Obama won reelection to a second term and the Democrats gained seats in both chambers ofCongress, retaining control of theSenate even though theRepublican Party retained control of theHouse of Representatives. As of 2024, this is the most recent election cycle in which neither the presidency nor a chamber of Congress changed partisan control, the last time the incumbent party won the presidential election, and the last time that the party that won the presidency simultaneously gained seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Obama defeated Republican nomineeMitt Romney to win a second term, taking 51.1 percent of the popular vote and 332 of the 538electoral votes. Romney defeatedRick Santorum,Newt Gingrich, and several other candidates to win his party's nomination in the2012 Republican primaries.

Democrats won a net gain of twoSenate seats, retaining control of the chamber. In the first election held in the House of Representatives since the round of redistricting following the2010 United States census, Democrats picked up eight seats but failed to gain a majority, despite winning the popular vote. In the gubernatorial elections, Republicans won a net gain of one seat. This was the first time since1936 that a Democratic presidential candidate who won a second term also had Senate coattails in both occasions (although Franklin Roosevelt won a third and fourth term in 1940 and 1944 respectively, he lost Senate seats on both occasions). This is the third straight presidential election where the winner had coattails in both houses of Congress.

Various other state, territorial, and local races andreferendums were held throughout the year. Three state referendums passed legalizingsame-sex marriage, while Minnesota became the first state in history to reject a proposed state-levelconstitutional ban of same sex marriage. Two states approved and one rejected thelegalization of recreational marijuana, and one more state voted tolegalize marijuana for medical use. Areferendum was also held inPuerto Rico regarding thefuture political status of the U.S.unincorporated territory. Following the Supreme Court'sCitizens United decision, the 2012 election season became the most expensive in American history.^[1]

Despite various issues during this election cycle, ultimately little overall change occurred on both the Federal and the gubernatorial levels.

Many of the major issues of the 2012 election were the same as in both2008 and2010.^[2] Candidates and voters in 2012 were again focused on national economic conditions and jobs, record federal deficits, health care and the effects of the controversialAffordable Care Act, national security and terrorism, education, and energy.^[2][3][4]

Immigration reform and the controversialArizona Senate Bill 1070, passed by the state in 2010 to enhance the power of Arizona's law enforcement agencies to investigate the immigration status of suspected illegal immigrants, also remained important issues.^[2] On June 25, 2012, the Supreme Court delivered its decision inArizona v. United States, striking down three of the four provisions of Arizona's law.

In 2011, there were a series of demonstrations in Wisconsin, involving at its zenith as many as 100,000 protestors^[5] opposing the2011 Wisconsin Act 10, also called the "Wisconsin budget repair bill." The legislation, passed by theWisconsin Legislature on June 29, 2011, primarily impacted the following areas: collective bargaining, compensation, retirement, health insurance, and sick leave of the state's public sector employees.

These protests became a major driving force of multiplerecall elections, including state senators in2011 and2012,GovernorScott Walker in2012 and a contentiousWisconsin Supreme Court election in 2011.

Starting in August 2012, a series of controversies occurred involving comments made by a number ofsocially conservative Republican candidates regarding issues regarding rape, pregnancy, and abortion, bringing these issues to the forefront. The first most notable was Republican House RepresentativeTodd Akin ofMissouri, who was the Republican nominee for aU.S. Senate seat. He stated thatpregnancy from rape rarely occurs as a result of what he referred to as "legitimate rape." Akin's comments had a far-reaching political impact, changing a focus of campaigns across the country onto the so-called "war on women."^[6][7] Another widely covered comment was that ofIndiana State Treasurer and U.S. Senate candidateRichard Mourdock, who said that pregnancy from rape was "something that God intended". A number of observers later identified Mourdock's and Akin's comments as a principal factor in their respective election losses.^[8] The comments are also credited for having a larger national effect.^[9]

The major foreign policy controversy during the final weeks of the campaign was the September attack on the American diplomatic mission atBenghazi,Libya by a heavily armed group. Four people were killed, includingU.S. AmbassadorJ. Christopher Stevens, and ten others were injured. This was initially blamed on a series of protests and violent attacks began in response to aYouTube trailer for the controversial filmInnocence of Muslims, considered blasphemous by many Muslims. According to critics, the consulate site should have been secured better both before and after the attack. Republicans further criticized the Obama administration's response to the attacks, ranging from accusations that they incorrectly attributed the role of anger over the film instead of suspecting it more as a coordinated attack by a terrorist group like al-Qaeda; to complaints with delays in the administration's investigation.

Democratic incumbent presidentBarack Obama was re-elected, defeatingRepublican formerMassachusetts GovernorMitt Romney. This was the first presidential election since the2010 census, which changed theElectoral College vote apportionment.^[10]

With the advantage of incumbency, Obama faced no major challengers in theDemocratic Party primaries. Several candidates competed in theRepublican Party primaries; by late April, Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, was declared thepresumptive Republican nominee.^[11] Among thethird-party candidates, former governor of New MexicoGary Johnson was theLibertarian Party nominee,Jill Stein was theGreen Party nominee, former Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromVirginia's5th congressional districtVirgil Goode was theConstitution Party nominee, and former mayor of Salt Lake CityRocky Anderson was theJustice Party nominee.

The 33 seats ofClass I of theUnited States Senate were up for election. Democrats were expected to have 23 seats up for election, including 2independents who caucus with the Democrats, while Republicans were only expected to have 10 seats up for election. The Democrats ended up retaining majority control of the Senate, picking up two net seats. One of the Democratic winners was Wisconsin'sTammy Baldwin, who became the first openly LGBT member of the US Senate.^[12]

This was the first congressional election using the congressional districts that were apportioned based on the 2010 census. Elections were held for all 435 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives. Elections were also held for thedelegates from theDistrict of Columbia and five majorU.S. territories. Although House Democrats won a plurality of the popular vote (48.8% vs 47.6%),^[13] House Republicans were still able to retain a 234 to 201 seat majority.

Aspecial election inOregon's 1st congressional district was held on January 31 to determine a replacement forDavid Wu, who resigned in August 2011. Anotherspecial election inArizona's 8th congressional district was held on June 12 to elect the replacement ofGabby Giffords, who resigned in January 2012. The winners of these two special elections (Suzanne Bonamici from Oregon,Ron Barber from Arizona) both ran in attempts to keep their seats.

As a matter of convenience and cost saving, thespecial election inNew Jersey's 10th congressional district and thespecial election inMichigan's 11th congressional district were held in conjunction with the regularly scheduled general election on November 6, 2012. New Jersey congressmanDonald M. Payne died in March 2012 while Michigan'sThaddeus McCotter resigned in July 2012. In both districts, voters were asked on the November ballot to select two candidates: one to serve the remainder of Payne or McCotter's term, respectively, and the other to serve their respective district's full 2-year term beginning in January 2013.

12 state and two territorygovernorships were up for election. In addition,Scott Walker ofWisconsin survived arecall election on June 5. Only one state governorship changed hands: InNorth Carolina, RepublicanPat McCrory was elected to replace the retiring Democratic governorBev Perdue.

The territorial governorships ofAmerican Samoa andPuerto Rico were also up for election.^[14][15] SenatorAlejandro García Padilla won in Puerto Rico, andLolo Matalasi Moliga won in American Samoa.^[15][14]

In many states where if the following positions are elective offices, voters will cast votes for candidates for the state executive branch offices ofLieutenant Governor (though some will be voted for on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee),Secretary of state,state Treasurer,state Auditor,state Attorney General, state Superintendent of Education, Commissionersof Insurance, Agriculture, or Labor, etc., and state judicial branch offices (seats onstate Supreme Courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).

13 chambers shifted party control, as Republicans had gained many chambers in the 2010 mid-term elections, and this was seen as a modest rebalancing.^[16]

Democrats won theColorado House of Representatives,Maine Senate,Maine House of Representatives,Minnesota Senate,Minnesota House of Representatives,New Hampshire House of Representatives, andOregon House of Representatives that was previously tied. Meanwhile, Republicans won theWisconsin Senate which was briefly under Democratic control after multiplerecall elections earlier in the year, and both chambers of the Arkansas legislature for the first time since 1874. TheAlaska Senate went from a Democratic-led coalition to Republican control. TheWashington Senate went from Democratic control to a Republican-led coalition, and theNew York State Senate went from Republican control to a Republican-led coalition.

A referendum regarding thepolitical status of Puerto Rico was held. Puerto Rican voters were asked two questions: First, whether they prefer the status quo of remaining aU.S. unincorporated territory—a majority (54%), rejected the status quo. The second question asked whether they prefer statehood, independence or free association—a majority (61% of votes cast) supported statehood for Puerto Rico.^[17]

However, one-third of all votes cast left the second question blank. Governor-electAlejandro García Padilla, who had been critical of the process, then sent a message to President Obama, asking him to reject the results because of their ambiguity.^[18] On November 8, 2012, Washington, D.C. newspaperThe Hill published an article saying that Congress will also likely ignore the results of the referendum due to the circumstances behind the votes.^[19]

Maine,Maryland andWashington approved same sex marriage by popular vote, the first time any states have done so, bringing the number of states thatallow same sex marriage from 6 to 9 states. InMinnesota, a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same sex marriage was defeated, the first time such an amendment has not passed.

Ameasure in Massachusetts resulted in that state becoming the 18th US state to allowmedical cannabis. By ballot measure, voters in bothColorado andWashington chose tolegalizecannabis outright, the first states to do so,^[20] whereas voters inOregon chose to reject it.^[21]

Nationwide, cities, counties, school boards, special districts and others held elections in 2012.

Some of the major American cities that held mayoral elections in 2012 included:

• Carson City, Nevada: IncumbentBob Crowell won re-election.
• Honolulu, Hawaii: IncumbentPeter Carlisle was defeated in the non-partisan blanket primary in August. Former state representativeKirk Caldwell then defeated former Hawaii GovernorBen Cayetano in the runoff.
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin: IncumbentTom Barrett won re-election.
• Orlando, Florida: IncumbentBuddy Dyer won re-election.
• Portland, Oregon: IncumbentSam Adams did not seek another term.Charlie Hales was elected as his replacement.
• San Diego, California: IncumbentJerry Sanders was term-limited out of office. Former congressmanBob Filner was elected to replace him, defeating city councilmanCarl DeMaio.

The 2012 election cycle was the first to be impacted by the Supreme Court'sCitizens United decision, which prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions.^[22] The projected cost of the 2012 federal election races is estimated to be over 5.8 billion dollars,^[23] with approximately $1 billion of that coming from "outside" groups (groups not directly controlled by the candidate's campaign or officially controlled by the party).^[24] During the elections there was much spending by the lobbies, particularly thefossil fuels lobby.^[25]

Bold indicates a change in control. Note that not all states held gubernatorial, state legislative, and United States Senate elections in 2012.

• Barone, Michael, et al., The Almanac of American Politics 2014 (2013), detailed coverage of every election for Congress and governorexcerpt
• Jacobson, Gary C. "How the Economy and Partisanship Shaped the 2012 Presidential and Congressional Elections."Political Science Quarterly (2013) 128#1 pp: 1-38.online
• Nelson, Michael, ed.The Elections of 2012 (2013)excerpt and text search; topical essays by experts

Wikimedia Commons has media related to2012 elections in the United States.

• liveuselections.info - United States Elections, 2012
• "State Elections Legislation Database",Ncsl.org, Washington, D.C.:National Conference of State Legislatures,State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year

• 2012 elections in the United States
• General elections in the United States

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