Illinois' 8th Congressional District elections, 2012
2014 →
|
 |
November 6, 2012 |
March 20, 2012 |
Tammy Duckworth |
Joe Walsh |
 |
 |
The 8th Congressional District of Illinois held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.
Democrat Tammy Duckworth won the election.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: Illinois has a mixed-hybrid primary system. Voters can change parties each year but must declare a party affiliation at the polls. Depending on which party is chosen, the voter will then be counted as registered for that party. Voters may change party affiliation at polls or caucus.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by February 21. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 9. A "grace period" was also available, allowing voter registration until three days before an election.[2][3]
- See also: Illinois elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election the incumbent was Joe Walsh (R), who was first elected to represent the 8th District in 2010.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census.Illinois' 8th Congressional District covers the northern suburbs of Chicago, including portions of Kane, Dupage and Cook counties. The district includes most of Chicago's northwestern suburbs, such as Hoffman Estates, Arlington Heights, Schaumburg, Gurnee, Palatine, Mundelein, Zion, Barrington, the Cook County portion of Elgin, McHenry and Woodstock.[4]
Candidates
General election candidates
March 20, 2012, primary results
|
|
|
|
|
- Note: Darlene Ruscitti withdrew from the primary on December 21, 2011[10][11] Robert Gregory Canfield and Richard Evans were removed from the official candidate list on January 24, 2012[12] Andrew Palomo officially suspended his campaign on January 3, 2012.[13][14]
Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Tammy Duckworth |
54.7% | 123,206 | |
| Republican | Joe Walsh Incumbent | 45.3% | 101,860 | |
| Independent | Robert Gregory Canfield | 0% | 0 | |
| Total Votes | 225,066 | |||
| Source: Illinois Board of Elections "2012 General Election Official Vote Totals" | ||||
Democratic Primary
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Tammy Duckworth |
66.2% | 17,097 |
| Raja Krishnamoorthi | 33.8% | 8,736 |
| Total Votes | 25,833 | |
Race background
Illinois' 8th is considered to be Leaning Democratic according to the New York Times race ratings. Incumbent Joe Walsh was one of the more endangered members of the House. He was one of the most conservatie freshman members of the House in a district that is not so conservative.[15]
Tammy Duckworth had secured the backing of most of Illinois' influential political figures in the Democratic primary against Raja Krishnamoorthi.[16] The two are vying to take on Joe Walsh in a "Democratic-leaning, suburban Chicago district,"[16] and whoever wins is the likely favorite in the general election.[16]
Duckworth had endorsements from Dick Durbin, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Obama advisor David Axelrod.[16] Krishnamoorthi is supported by Danny K. Davis and Cook County Board Chair Toni Preckwinkle.[16]
Illinois' 8th District had been included in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue List," which identifies districts that the organization had specifically targeted to flip from Republican to Democratic control.[17]
Incumbent Joe Walsh was a part of the National Republican Congressional Committee's Patriot Program, a program to help House Republicans stay on offense and increase their majority in 2012.[18]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Illinois
With the 2011 redistricting, Illinois lost 1 of its current 19 House seats because the state's population failed to grow as fast as in other states.[19] Illinois has had 11 Republican congressmen and 8 Democrats since the November 2010 election.[19] The new map, designed by the dominant Democrats, could have flipped that advantage to as many as 12 Democrats and only six Republicans.[19]
The new 8th District was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[20][21]
- 57 percent from the 6th Congressional District
- 26 percent from the 8th Congressional District
- 6 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 11 percent from the 14th Congressional District
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. Illinois' 8th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[22]
- 2012: 59D / 41R
- 2010: 53D / 47R
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. Illinois' 8th Congressional District has a PVI of D+6, which is the 138th most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 62-38 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 51-49 percent over George W. Bush (R).[23]
Polls
| 8th Congressional District Race | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poll | Tammy Duckworth | Joe Walsh | Undecided | Sample Size | |||||||||||||||
| "Illinois 8th Congressional District Poll" October 25-26 | 54% | 40% | 5% | 500 | |||||||||||||||
| "2012 District 8 Poll" September 18-20 | 52% | 38% | 10% | 508 | |||||||||||||||
| Note: A "0%" finding means the candidate was not a part of the poll. The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org | |||||||||||||||||||
Campaign donors
2012
Tammy Duckworth
| Tammy Duckworth (2012)[24] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[25] | March 8, 2012 | $561,651.71 | $335,449.25 | $(641,628.31) | $255,472.65 | ||||
| April Quarterly[26] | April 15, 2012 | $255,422.65 | $334,735.75 | $(330,233.66) | $259,974.74 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $670,185 | $(971,861.97) | ||||||||
Duckworth raised over $1.5 million in the third quarter.[27]
Joe Walsh
| Joe Walsh (2012)[28] Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| Pre-Primary[29] | March 8, 2012 | $460,437.51 | $38,300.02 | $(127,328.66) | $371,408.87 | ||||
| April Quarterly[30] | April 15, 2012 | $371,408.87 | $270,631.33 | $(34,889.65) | $607,150.55 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $308,931.35 | $(162,218.31) | ||||||||
District history
| Candidate ballot access |
|---|
 |
| Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. |
2010
On November 2, 2010, Joe Walsh won election to the United States House of Representatives. He defeated Melissa L. Bean (D) and Bill Scheurer (G) in the general election.[31]
| U.S. House, Illinois District 8 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Joe Walsh |
48.5% | 98,115 | |
| Democratic | Melissa L. Bean | 48.3% | 97,825 | |
| Green | Bill Scheurer | 3.2% | 6,495 | |
| Total Votes | 202,435 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
External links
- Campaign finance at OpenSecrets.org
Footnotes
- ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Illinois"
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "2012 Election Calendar," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "Registering to Vote in Illinois," accessed July 21, 2012
- ↑ June 2011 Illinois Redistricting, "Map" accessed July 23, 2012
- ↑ Daily Herald "Race in the 8th begins" accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ ABC News 7 "Election Results Primary 2012" accessed March 20, 2012
- ↑ Chicago Tribune "Duckworth to file for congressional race" accessed December 5, 2011
- ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" accessed December 27, 2011
- ↑ Daily Herald "Write-in candidate challenging Walsh" accessed February 23, 2012
- ↑ Daily Herald, "BREAKING: Darlene Ruscitti bows out of 8th District GOP primary" accessed February 9, 2012
- ↑ Daily Herald, "Ruscitti bows out of 8th District GOP primary" accessed February 9, 2012
- ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "Candidate List," accessed February 10, 2012
- ↑ Prairie State Report, "Andrew Palomo Out, 2nd Congressional Candidate for 8th District Drops Out" accessed March 15, 2012
- ↑ Andrew Palomo for Congress, "Campaign Update" accessed March 19, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 7, 2012
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 The Hill, "Illinois House races heating up" accessed March 12, 2012
- ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
- ↑ NRCC "Patriot Program 2012"
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Chicago Tribune, "Odd geography in new Illinois congressional map:Millions of constituents will find their representative has changed" accessed February 22, 2012
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Illinois' congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Illinois," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Tammy Duckworth Summary Reports" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ Tammy Duckworth's campaign website
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Joe Walsh Summary Reports" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 9, 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
