New Jersey's 12th Congressional District election, 2020

	2022 → ← 2018
New Jersey's 12th Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: March 30, 2020
	Primary: July 7, 2020; General: November 3, 2020; Pre-election incumbent:; Bonnie Watson Coleman (Democrat)
How to vote
	Poll times: 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Voting in New Jersey
Race ratings
	Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic; Inside Elections: Solid Democratic; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
	New Jersey's 12th Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th; New Jersey elections, 2020; U.S. Congress elections, 2020; U.S. Senate elections, 2020; U.S. House elections, 2020; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 12th Congressional District of New Jersey, held elections in 2020.

Incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman won election in the general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 12.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Candidate filing deadline	Primary election	General election
March 30, 2020	July 7, 2020	November 3, 2020

Heading into the election the incumbent was Democrat Bonnie Watson Coleman, who was first elected in 2014.

New Jersey's 12th Congressional District is located in the central portion of the state and includes portions of Mercer, Middlesex, Union, and Somerset counties.^[1]

Post-election analysis

The table below compares the vote totals in the 2020 presidential election and 2020 U.S. House election for this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

Presidential and congressional election results, New Jersey's 12th Congressional District, 2020
Race	Presidential	U.S. House
Democratic candidate	67.3	65.6
Republican candidate	31.4	32.6
Difference	35.9	33

Election procedure changes in 2020

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

New Jersey modified its absentee/mail-in voting and candidate filing procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

Absentee/mail-in voting: Mail-in were ballots sent to all registered voters in the general election.
Candidate filing procedures: Candidates were allowed to collect and submit petition signatures via electronic means. The petition deadline for unaffiliated candidates for non-presidential office was postponed to July 7, 2020.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

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Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House New Jersey District 12

Incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman defeated Mark Razzoli, Robert Edward Forchion Jr., and Kenneth Cody in the general election for U.S. House New Jersey District 12 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Bonnie Watson Coleman (D)	65.6	230,883
		Mark Razzoli (R)	32.6	114,591
	Submit photo	Robert Edward Forchion Jr. (Independent)	1.3	4,512
		Kenneth Cody (Truth Vision Hope Party)	0.5	1,739

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 351,725
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Stan Koshy (Independent)
Zadok Rubin (People's Party)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 12

Incumbent Bonnie Watson Coleman defeated Lisa McCormick in the Democratic primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 12 on July 7, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Bonnie Watson Coleman	89.2	81,936
	Lisa McCormick	10.8	9,928

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 91,864
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 12

Mark Razzoli advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House New Jersey District 12 on July 7, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark Razzoli	100.0	19,992

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 19,992
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Candidate Conversations

Moderated by journalist and political commentator Greta Van Susteren, Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to easily get to know their candidates through a short video Q&A. Click below to watch the conversation for this race.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County	Trump margin of victory in 2016	Obama margin of victory in 2012	Obama margin of victory in 2008
Gloucester County, New Jersey	0.48%	10.77%	12.16%
Salem County, New Jersey	15.00%	1.31%	3.92%

In the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton (D) won New Jersey with 55.5 percent of the vote. Donald Trump (R) received 41.4 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, New Jersey voted Democratic 46.67 percent of the time and Republican 53.33 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, New Jersey voted Democratic all five times.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+16, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 16 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made New Jersey's 12th Congressional District the 85th most Democratic nationally.^[2]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 0.92. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.92 points toward that party.^[3]

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[4] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.^[5] The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Bonnie Watson Coleman	Democratic Party	$806,729	$848,942	$107,160	As of December 31, 2020
Mark Razzoli	Republican Party	$3,065	$1,142	$1,923	As of March 31, 2020
Kenneth Cody	Truth Vision Hope Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Robert Edward Forchion Jr.	Independent	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. * Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[6]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Race ratings: New Jersey's 12th Congressional District election, 2020
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 3, 2020	October 27, 2020	October 20, 2020	October 13, 2020
The Cook Political Report	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

Candidate ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for 12th Congressional District candidates in New Jersey in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in New Jersey, click here.

Filing requirements, 2020
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Signature formula	Filing fee	Filing fee formula	Filing deadline	Source
New Jersey	12th Congressional District	Qualified party	200	Fixed number	N/A	N/A	3/30/2020	Source
New Jersey	12th Congressional District	Unaffiliated	100	Fixed number	N/A	N/A	7/7/2020	Source

District election history