Colorado's 3rd Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 26, 2012 |
Scott Tipton |
Scott Tipton |
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The 3rd Congressional District of Colorado held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Scott Tipton won the election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Colorado has a closed primary system, in which the selection of a party's candidates in an election is limited to registered party members.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by March 5. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9.[2]
- See also: Colorado elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Scott Tipton (R), who was first elected in 2010.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. The 3rd District is located in western and southern Colorado and includes Pueblo, Custer, Costilla, Rio Grande, Conejos, Archulets, Mineral, Saguache, Alamosa, Huerfrano, La Plata, Montezuma, Delores, San Miguel, Montrose, Ouray, San Juan, Hinsdale, Gunalson, Delta, Mesa, Pitkin, Lake, Eagle, Garfield, Rio Blanco, Routt, Jackson and Moffard counties.[3]
Candidates
General election candidates
June 26, 2012 primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sal Pace | 41.1% | 142,619 | |
| Republican |  Scott Tipton Incumbent |
53.4% | 185,291 | |
| Libertarian | Gregory Gilman | 2.4% | 8,212 | |
| Independent | Tisha Casida | 3.2% | 11,125 | |
| Total Votes | 347,247 | |||
| Source: Colorado Secretary of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election" | ||||
Libertarian Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Gregory Gilman |
60.6% | 166 |
| Gaylon Kent | 39.4% | 108 |
| Total Votes | 274 | |
Race background
Colorado's 3rd District was considered Leaning Republican according to the New York Times race ratings. Incumbent Scott Tipton's district was redrawn and he was challenged by state representative Sal Pace.[9]
Colorado's 3rd District was included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue List," which identified districts that the organization specifically targeted to flip from Republican to Democratic control.[10]
Incumbent Scott Tipton was a part of the National Republican Congressional Committee's Patriot Program, a program to help House Republicans increase their majority in 2012.[11]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Colorado
The 3rd District was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district is composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[12][13]
- 5 percent from the 2nd Congressional District
- 95 percent from the 3rd Congressional District
- 1 percent from the 5th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 22, 2012, District 3 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the Colorado Secretary of State:
| Colorado Congressional District 3[14] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 3 | 319,189 | 99,751 | 127,119 | 92,319 | Republican | 27.44% | 12.18% |
| "Party advantage" is the percentage gap between the two major parties in registered voters. "Change in advantage" is the spread in difference of party advantage between 2010 and 2012 based on the congressional district number only. | |||||||
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- See also: FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
In 2012, FairVote did a study on partisanship in the congressional districts, giving each a percentage ranking (D/R) based on the new 2012 maps and comparing that to the old 2010 maps. Colorado's 3rd District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[15]
- 2012: 46D / 54R
- 2010: 45D / 55R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measures each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. Colorado's 3rd Congressional District has a PVI of R+4, which is the 194th most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by John McCain (R), 51-49 percent over Barack Obama (D). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 56-45 percent over John Kerry (D).[16]
Campaign contributions
Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are candidate reports.
Sal Pace
| Sal Pace (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[17] | April 15, 2012 | $341,430.06 | $291,975.19 | $(112,046.81) | $521,358.44 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[18] | June 14, 2012 | $521,358.44 | $216,561.43 | $(123,486.14) | $614,433.73 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $508,536.62 | $(235,532.95) | ||||||||
Scott Tipton
| Scott Tipton (2012) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| April Quarterly[19] | April 15, 2012 | $502,402.63 | $378,927.83 | $(68,055.85) | $813,274.61 | ||||
| Pre-Primary[20] | June 14, 2012 | $813,645.98 | $221,804 | $(107,234.89) | $928,215.09 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $600,731.83 | $(175,290.74) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Scott Tipton won election to the United States House. He defeated John T. Salazar, Gregory Gilman and Jake Segrest in the general election.[21]
| U.S. House, Colorado District 3 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Scott Tipton |
50.1% | 129,257 | |
| Democratic | John T. Salazar Incumbent | 45.8% | 118,048 | |
| Libertarian | Gregory Gilman | 2.2% | 5,678 | |
| Unaffiliated | Jake Segrest | 1.9% | 4,982 | |
| Total Votes | 257,965 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
External links
- Unofficial candidate filing list
- Perry Haney campaign website
- Sal Pace campaign website
- Tisha Casida campaign website
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 House Race Results," accessed November 6, 2012
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Go Vote Colorado," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ Colorado November 2011 Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed July 23, 2012
- ↑ "Colorado Rep. Pace to challenge Tipton in 3rd District," AspenTimes.com, May 31, 2011
- ↑ Steamboat Today "Congressman Scott Tipton to visit Yampa Valley on Saturday," accessed March 10, 2012
- ↑ "Pace running for 3rd Congressional District," Chieftain.com, June 1, 2011
- ↑ Email submission to Ballotpedia, May 28, 2012
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State Candidate List (accessed September 5, 2012)
- ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 7, 2012
- ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
- ↑ NRCC "Patriot Program 2012"
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Colorado's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "2012 Voter Registration Statistics," February 1, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Colorado," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Sal Pace April Quarterly," accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Sal Pace Pre-Primary," accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Scott Tipton April Quarterly," accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Scott Tipton Pre-Primary," accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
