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United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts, 2012

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Massachusetts's 2012 elections
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2012 U.S. House Elections in Massachusetts
Primary Date
September 6, 2012
Partisan breakdown •Candidates
Massachusetts District Pages
District 1 •District 2 •District 3 •District 4 •District 5 •District 6 •District 7 •District 8 •District 9
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2012 U.S. Senate Elections
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The2012 U.S. House of Representatives elections inMassachusetts took place onNovember 6, 2012. Voterselected nine candidates to serve in theU.S. House, one from each of the state's nine congressional districts.

Candidate Filing DeadlinePrimary ElectionGeneral Election
June 5, 2012
September 6, 2012
November 6, 2012

Primary: Massachusetts has a partiallyclosed primary system, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election was limited to registered party members. In Massachusetts, however, independent voters may select which party's primary to vote in.

Voter registration: Voters were required to register to vote in the primary by August 17. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 17.[1]

See also:Massachusetts elections, 2012


According to theNew York Times race ratings in October 2012, one of the nine districts was considered to be in play,District 6.[2]

TheCenter for Voting and Democracy (Fairvote)projected that Democrats would win eight districts. It did not make a projection for the remaining seat.[3]

Primary competitiveness

See also:National contested primary average during the 2012 U.S. congressional elections

Massachusetts tied with Kentucky, Maine, Delaware, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, and West Virginia for having the22nd most competitive congressional primaries in 2012, with 50% of major party primaries having been contested (9 out of 18). The national average was 54.31%.

EightU.S. House incumbents sought re-election in Massachusetts in 2012. 3 of those 8 (37.5%) faced a primary challenger. Nationwide, 200 out of the 386 incumbents seeking re-election faced a primary challenger (51.81%).

Partisan breakdown

Heading into the November 6 election, the Democratic Party held all 10 Congressional seats fromMassachusetts. However, the state lost one seat after the 2010 census and elected 9 representatives.

Members of the U.S. House from Massachusetts -- Partisan Breakdown
PartyAs of November 2012After the 2012 Election
    Democratic Party109
    Republican Party00
Total109

Incumbents

Heading into the 2012 election, the incumbents for the 10 congressional districts were:

NamePartyDistrict
Barney FrankElectiondot.pngDemocratic4
Bill KeatingElectiondot.pngDemocratic10
Ed MarkeyElectiondot.pngDemocratic7
Jim McGovernElectiondot.pngDemocratic3
John OlverElectiondot.pngDemocratic1
John TierneyElectiondot.pngDemocratic6
Michael CapuanoElectiondot.pngDemocratic8
Niki TsongasElectiondot.pngDemocratic5
Richard NealElectiondot.pngDemocratic2
Stephen LynchElectiondot.pngDemocratic9

Margin of victory for winners

There were a total of 9 seats up for election in 2012 in Massachusetts. The following table shows the margin of victory for each district winner, which is calculated by examining the percentage difference between the top-two vote getters. If the race was uncontested, the margin of victory is listed as 100%.

DistrictWinnerMargin of VictoryTotal VoteTop Opponent
Massachusetts, District 1Democratic PartyRichard Neal76.6%336,555All Others
Massachusetts, District 2Democratic PartyJim McGovern74.5%342,736All Others
Massachusetts, District 3Democratic PartyNiki Tsongas30.7%335,111Jon Golnik
Massachusetts, District 4Democratic PartyJoseph Kennedy III24.5%373,114Sean Bielat
Massachusetts, District 5Democratic PartyEd Markey47.9%364,201Tom Tierney
Massachusetts, District 6Democratic PartyJohn Tierney1.1%389,852Richard Tisei
Massachusetts, District 7Democratic PartyMichael Capuano59.5%285,134Karla Romero
Massachusetts, District 8Democratic PartyStephen Lynch48.9%371,694Joe Selvaggi
Massachusetts, District 9Democratic PartyWilliam Keating24.9%385,799Christopher Sheldon

General election candidates

DistrictGeneral Election CandidatesIncumbent2012 WinnerPartisan Switch?
1stDemocratic PartyRichard NealJohn OlverDemocratic PartyRichard NealNo
2ndDemocratic PartyJim McGovernRichard NealDemocratic PartyJim McGovernNo
3rdDemocratic PartyNiki Tsongas
Republican PartyJon Golnik		Jim McGovernDemocratic PartyNiki TsongasNo
4thDemocratic PartyJoseph Kennedy III
Republican PartySean Bielat
Grey.pngDavid Rosa		Barney FrankDemocratic PartyJoseph Kennedy IIINo
5thDemocratic PartyEd Markey
Republican PartyTom Tierney		Niki TsongasDemocratic PartyEd MarkeyNo
6thDemocratic PartyJohn Tierney
Republican PartyRichard Tisei
Libertarian PartyDaniel Fishman		John TierneyDemocratic PartyJohn TierneyNo
7thDemocratic PartyMichael Capuano
Grey.pngKarla Romero		Ed MarkeyDemocratic PartyMichael CapuanoNo
8thDemocratic PartyStephen Lynch
Republican PartyJoe Selvaggi		Michael CapuanoDemocratic PartyStephen LynchNo
9thDemocratic PartyWilliam Keating
Republican PartyChristopher Sheldon
Grey.pngDaniel Botelho		Stephen LynchDemocratic PartyWilliam KeatingNo
10thDistrict Removed in RedistrictingBill KeatingN/AN/A

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. Pleasecontact us about errors in this list.


1st Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyRichard NealGreen check mark transparent.png

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

  • No candidates filed to run as Republicans.

2nd Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyJim McGovernGreen check mark transparent.png

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

  • No candidates filed to run as Republicans.

3rd Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyNiki TsongasGreen check mark transparent.png
Republican PartyJon Golnik

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

4th Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyJoseph Kennedy IIIGreen check mark transparent.png
Republican PartySean Bielat
Grey.pngDavid Rosa

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

5th Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyEd MarkeyGreen check mark transparent.png
Republican PartyTom Tierney

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

  • Ed Markey:Approveda Incumbent from the 7th Congressional district

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

6th Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyJohn TierneyGreen check mark transparent.png
Republican PartyRichard Tisei
Libertarian PartyDaniel Fishman

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

Libertarian PartyLibertarian candidate

7th Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyMichael CapuanoGreen check mark transparent.png
Grey.pngKarla Romero

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

  • No candidates filed to run as Republicans.

Grey.pngIndependent Candidate

8th Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyStephen LynchGreen check mark transparent.png
Republican PartyJoe Selvaggi

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

9th Congressional District

General election candidates

Democratic PartyWilliam KeatingGreen check mark transparent.png
Republican PartyChristopher Sheldon
Grey.pngDaniel Botelho

Democratic PartySeptember 6 Democratic Primary

Republican PartyRepublican Primary

Grey.pngIndependent candidate


See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "Voter Registration Information," accessed July 25, 2012
  2. ↑New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed July 25, 2012
  3. ↑, "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Massachusetts," September 2012
  4. ↑Boston Herald "2 Mass. men announce plans for congressional runs" accessed January 24, 2012
  5. ↑Official Campaign Site "About" accessed January 24, 2012
  6. ↑Official Campaign Site "About" May 14, 2012
  7. ↑Rachel Brown for Congress "Home" August 25, 2012
  8. ↑Washington Post "Joe Kennedy III announces run for Barney Frank’s seat," February 15, 2012
  9. ↑Official Herb Robinson Campaign Website
  10. ↑Boston Globe "Brookline School Committee member readies run against Barney Frank," September 9, 2011
  11. ↑Boston Globe "Sean Bielat to make 2d bid for Congress," January 18, 2012
  12. ↑Herald News "Fall River dentist to run for Congress" August 25, 2012
  13. ↑Frank Addivinola "Official Campaign Page" May 14, 2012
  14. ↑Roll Call "Republican Announces Long-Shot Bid in Massachusetts," June 21, 2011
  15. ↑Reading Patch "Tierney Spokesperson: Negative Effects of Redistricting Overstated," accessed January 3, 2012
  16. ↑Wakefield Patch "Richard Tisei Announces Run for Congress, Pledges to 'Turn Things Around,'" accessed January 3, 2012
  17. ↑Roll Call "Mike Capuano Won't Challenge Scott Brown, Seeking Re-Election," September 2, 2011
  18. ↑Inquirer and Mirror "Redistricting: Keating chooses Cape and Islands," November 17, 2011
  19. ↑Patriot Ledger "Iraq War vet from Quincy hopes to unseat U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch," February 4, 2012
  20. ↑Facebook "Joe Selvaggi 2012
  21. ↑Inquirer and Mirror "Redistricting: Keating chooses Cape and Islands," November 17, 2011
  22. ↑WPRI "Sam Sutter Making a Run for Congress" accessed January 24, 2012
  23. ↑Herald News "A Plymouth Republican to join 9th Congressional district race" accessed January 22, 2012
  24. ↑Boston Herald "Republican Adam Chaprales enters House race" May 14, 2012
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