2012 United States House of Representatives elections

The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 6, 2012. It coincided with the reelection of President Barack Obama. Elections were held for all 435 seats representing the 50 U.S. states and also for the delegates from the District of Columbia and five major U.S. territories. The winners of this election cycle served in the 113th United States Congress. This was the first congressional election using districts drawn up based on the 2010 United States census.

Although Democratic candidates received a nationwide plurality of more than 1.4 million votes (1.1%) in the aggregated vote totals from all House elections, the Republican Party won a 33-seat advantage in seats, thus retaining its House majority by 17 seats. Democrats picked up 27 previously Republican-held seats, but most of these gains were canceled out due to Republican pick-ups of Democratic-held seats, and reapportionment gains that benefited Republicans, leaving the Democrats with a net gain of just eight seats.

This disparity — common in close elections involving single-member district (especially plurality) voting"...the discrepancy between the popular vote won by a party and the seats that party wins in Congress is an endemic feature of our political system." Trende, Sean. Why Republicans Lost the Vote But Kept the House. RealClearPolitics. 2013-05-16. Retrieved 2013-09-15. — has sometimes been attributed to targeted Republican gerrymandering in the congressional redistricting process following the 2010 United States Census. "Unintentional gerrymandering," — the high concentration of Democrats in urban centers—leading to "wasted votes" in districts that easily elected Democratic candidates, has also been cited as causing some of the efficiency gap. The GOP also benefited from having a greater number of incumbents, who tend to have an advantage in elections which may have helped Republicans win close elections for individual seats.

This marked the last of five House elections in which the party that won the popular vote was unable to receive a majority in the House. The previous four times were in 1914, 1942, 1952, and 1996; in the former two elections, Democrats won the House majority without winning the popular vote, whereas in the latter two, the Republicans did so. The 2012 elections were also the first since 1996 where a president and a House majority of different parties were simultaneously elected, and are the most recent ones to date. Additionally, they were the most recent House elections in which a winning presidential candidate's party gained seats in the chamber.

, this is the last time Democrats won a House seat in West Virginia.

Results summary Federal + ↓ 234 201 Republican Democratic

|align="left"| Republican Party |align="right"| 242 |align="right"| 234 |align="right"| 8 |align="right"| 53.8% |align="right"| 58,283,314 |align="right"| 47.7% |align="right"| −4.0%

|align="left"| Democratic Party |align="right"| 193 |align="right"| 201 |align="right"| 8 |align="right"| 46.2% |align="right"| 59,645,531 |align="right"| 48.8% |align="right"| +3.9%

|align="left"| Libertarian Party |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| 1,360,925 |align="right"| 1.1% |align="right"| −0.1%

|align="left"| Independent |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| 1,240,672 |align="right"| 1.0% |align="right"| +0.4%

|align=left|Green Party |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| 373,455 |align="right"| 0.3% |align="right"| –

|align=left|Constitution Party |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| 111,576 |align="right"| 0.1% |align="right"| −0.1%

|align=left|Reform Party |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| – |align="right"| 70,682 |align="right"| 0.1% |align="right"| +0.1%

|align=left|Others |align="right"| - |align="right"| - |align="right"| - |align="right"| - |align="right"| 1,205,344 |align="right"| 1.0% |align="right"| +0.1% |- style="background:#ccc; text-align:center;" | colspan="2"| Totals || 435 || 435 || 0 || 100.0% || 122,291,499 || 100.0%

|- style="background:#e9e9e9;" | style="text-align:left;" colspan="9"|Source: Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk (does not include blank or over/under votes)

Per state State Totalseats Democratic Republican Seats Change Seats Change Alabama 7 1 6 Alaska 1 0 1 Arizona 9 5 2 4 1 Arkansas 4 0 1 4 1 California 53 38 4 15 4 Colorado 7 3 4 Connecticut 5 5 0 Delaware 1 1 0 Florida 27 10 4 17 2 Georgia 14 5 9 1 Hawaii 2 2 0 Idaho 2 0 2 Illinois 18 12 4 6 5 Indiana 9 2 1 7 1 Iowa 4 2 1 2 Kansas 4 0 4 Kentucky 6 1 1 5 1 Louisiana 6 1 5 1 Maine 2 2 0 Maryland 8 7 1 1 1 Massachusetts 9 9 1 0 Michigan 14 5 1 9 Minnesota 8 5 1 3 1 Mississippi 4 1 3 Missouri 8 2 1 6 Montana 1 0 1 Nebraska 3 0 3 Nevada 4 2 1 2 New Hampshire 2 2 2 0 2 New Jersey 12 6 1 6 New Mexico 3 2 1 New York 27 21 6 2 North Carolina 13 4 3 9 3 North Dakota 1 0 1 Ohio 16 4 1 12 1 Oklahoma 5 0 1 5 1 Oregon 5 4 1 Pennsylvania 18 5 2 13 1 Rhode Island 2 2 0 South Carolina 7 1 6 1 South Dakota 1 0 1 Tennessee 9 2 7 Texas 36 12 3 24 1 Utah 4 1 3 1 Vermont 1 1 0 Virginia 11 3 8 Washington 10 6 1 4 West Virginia 3 1 2 Wisconsin 8 3 5 Wyoming 1 0 1 Total 435 201 8 234 8

Maps

Retiring incumbents Forty-one representatives retired. Thirty-four of those seats were held by the same party, six seats changed party.

Democrats Twenty-two Democrats retired. Fourteen of those seats were held by Democrats, five were won by Republicans, and three seats were eliminated in redistricting.

Democratic held : Lynn Woolsey, was succeeded by Jared Huffman (with district being renumbered as California 2). California 51: Bob Filner, to run for mayor of San Diego, was succeeded by Juan Vargas. Connecticut 5: Chris Murphy, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Elizabeth Esty. Hawaii 2: Mazie Hirono, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Tulsi Gabbard. : Jerry Costello, was succeeded by William Enyart. Massachusetts 4: Barney Frank, was succeeded by Joseph P. Kennedy III. Michigan 5: Dale Kildee, was succeeded by Dan Kildee. Nevada 1: Shelley Berkley, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Dina Titus. New Mexico 1: Martin Heinrich, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Michelle Lujan Grisham. New York 5: Gary Ackerman, was succeeded by Grace Meng (with district being renumbered as New York 6). New York 10: Edolphus Towns, was succeeded by Hakeem Jeffries (with district being renumbered as New York 8). Texas 20: Charlie Gonzalez, was succeeded by Joaquín Castro. Washington 6: Norm Dicks, was succeeded by Derek Kilmer. Wisconsin 2: Tammy Baldwin, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Mark Pocan.

Republican gain : Mike Ross, was succeeded by Tom Cotton. : Joe Donnelly, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Jackie Walorski. : Heath Shuler, was succeeded by Mark Meadows. : Brad Miller, was succeeded by George Holding. : Dan Boren, was succeeded by Markwayne Mullin.

Seats eliminated in redistricting : Dennis Cardoza. Massachusetts 1: John Olver. : Maurice Hinchey.

Republicans Nineteen Republicans retired. Fifteen of those seats were held by Republicans, one was won by a Democrat, and three seats were eliminated in redistricting.

Republican held : Jeff Flake, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Matt Salmon (with district being renumbered as Arizona 5). : Wally Herger, was succeeded by Doug LaMalfa (with district being renumbered as California 1). : Jerry Lewis, was succeeded by Paul Cook (with district being renumbered as California 8). Florida 14: Connie Mack IV, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Trey Radel (with district being renumbered as Florida 19). Illinois 15: Tim Johnson, was succeeded by Rodney L. Davis (with district being renumbered as Illinois 13). Indiana 5: Dan Burton, was succeeded by Susan Brooks. Indiana 6: Mike Pence, to run for Governor of Indiana, was succeeded by Luke Messer. Missouri 2: Todd Akin, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Ann Wagner. Michigan 11: Thaddeus McCotter: failed to make the ballot for renomination due to fraudulent signatures, resigned July 6, 2012, and was succeeded by Democrat David Curson for a partial term and Republican Kerry Bentivolio for a full term. Montana at-large: Denny Rehberg, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Steve Daines. North Carolina 9: Sue Myrick, was succeeded by Robert Pittenger. North Dakota at-large: Rick Berg, to run for U.S. Senate, was succeeded by Kevin Cramer. Ohio 14: Steve LaTourette, was succeeded by David Joyce. Pennsylvania 19: Todd Russell Platts, was succeeded by Scott Perry (with district being renumbered as Pennsylvania 4). Texas 14: Ron Paul, to run for U.S. President, was succeeded by Randy Weber.

Democratic gain California 24: Elton Gallegly, was succeeded by Julia Brownley (with district being renumbered as California 26).

Seats eliminated in redistricting : David Dreier. New York 9: Bob Turner, who ran for U.S. Senate. Ohio 7: Steve Austria.

Incumbents defeated As a result of redistricting, many incumbents were forced to compete against each other in the same district, which resulted in a larger number of incumbents being defeated in primaries.

In primary elections Thirteen representatives lost renomination: eight were lost in redistricting battles pitting incumbents against each other, and five incumbents lost nomination to non-incumbent challengers.

Democrats Seven Democrats lost renomination: five in redistricting and two to a non-incumbent challenger.

Seat held by a Democrat These primary winners later won the general election.

: Hansen Clarke lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Gary Peters : Russ Carnahan lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Lacy Clay : Steve Rothman lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Bill Pascrell : Dennis Kucinich lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Marcy Kaptur : Tim Holden lost to challenger Matt Cartwright : Silvestre Reyes lost to challenger Beto O'Rourke

Seat lost to a Republican : Jason Altmire lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Mark Critz, who later lost the general election

Republicans Six Republicans lost renomination: three in redistricting races and three to a non-incumbent challenger. All the seats were held by Republicans. : Ben Quayle lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent David Schweikert : Cliff Stearns lost to challenger Ted Yoho : Sandy Adams lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent John Mica : Don Manzullo lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Adam Kinzinger : Jean Schmidt lost to challenger Brad Wenstrup : John Sullivan lost to challenger Jim Bridenstine

In general elections

Democrats Ten incumbent Democrats lost re-election; four to fellow Democrats and six to Republicans. Four losses were in California: two due to redistricting putting two incumbents together (resulting in a net loss of two for the Democrats) and two due to the state's top two primary. Two incumbents outside of California lost to Republican incumbents after being redistricted to the same district.

Seat held by a Democrat : Pete Stark lost to Eric Swalwell : Howard Berman lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Brad Sherman : Joe Baca lost to Gloria Negrete McLeod

2012 United States House of Representatives elections

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