United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado, 2012

| Colorado's 2012 elections

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2012 U.S. House Elections in Colorado

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Primary Date
June 26, 2012

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Partisan breakdown • Candidates

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Colorado District Pages District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7

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2012 U.S. Senate Elections

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The 2012 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Colorado took place on November 6, 2012. Voters elected seven candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's seven congressional districts.

Candidate Filing Deadline  | Primary Election  | General Election

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April 2, 2012 | June 26, 2012 | November 6, 2012

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.[1]

See also: Colorado elections, 2012

According to the New York Times race ratings in October 2012, two of the seven districts were considered to be in play. Those were the 3rd and 6th districts.[2]

The Center for Voting and Democracy (Fairvote) projected that both Democrats and Republicans would win two seats. It did not make a projection for the remaining three districts.[3]

## Primary competitiveness[edit]

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

Colorado had the 46th most competitive congressional primaries in 2012, with 21.43% of major party primaries having been contested (3 out of 14). The national average was 54.31%.

Seven U.S. House incumbents sought re-election in Colorado in 2012. One of those seven (14.29%) faced a primary challenger. Nationwide, 200 out of the 386 incumbents seeking re-election faced a primary challenger (51.81%).

## Partisan breakdown[edit]

Heading into the November 6 election, the Republican Party held four of the seven Congressional seats from Colorado.

Members of the U.S. House from Colorado -- Partisan Breakdown

Party  | As of November 2012  | After the 2012 Election
| Democratic Party | 3  | 3
| Republican Party | 4 | 4
Total |  7 |  7

### Incumbents[edit]

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

Name | Party | District

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Cory Gardner |  Republican | 4
Diana DeGette |  Democratic | 1
Doug Lamborn |  Republican | 5
Ed Perlmutter |  Democratic | 7
Jared Polis |  Democratic | 2
Mike Coffman (Colorado) |  Republican | 6
Scott Tipton |  Republican | 3

## Margin of victory for winners[edit]

There were a total of 7 seats up for election in 2012 in Colorado. 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%.

District | Winner | Margin of Victory | Total Vote | Top Opponent

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Colorado, District 1 |  Diana DeGette | 41.5% | 348,210 | Danny Stroud
Colorado, District 2 |  Jared Polis | 17.1% | 421,580 | Kevin Lundberg
Colorado, District 3 |  Scott Tipton | 12.3% | 347,247 | Sal Pace
Colorado, District 4 |  Cory Gardner | 21.7% | 342,076 | Brandon Shaffer
Colorado, District 5 |  Doug Lamborn | 57.6% | 307,231 | Jim Pirtle
Colorado, District 6 |  Mike Coffman (Colorado) | 2% | 342,891 | Joe Miklosi
Colorado, District 7 |  Ed Perlmutter | 12.7% | 340,970 | Joe Coors, Jr.

## General election candidates[edit]

This is a map of the congressional districts of Colorado before and after the 2010 redistricting. The image also includes the partisan breakdown of the districts that are close in registration figures.

District | General Election Candidates | Incumbent | 2012 Winner | Partisan Switch?

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1st |  Diana DeGette
Danny Stroud
Frank Atwood

Gary Swing
Thomas Henry Juniel | Diana DeGette |  Diana DeGette | No
2nd |  Jared Polis
Kevin Lundberg
Randy Luallin

Susan Hall | Jared Polis |  Jared Polis | No
3rd |  Sal Pace
Scott Tipton
Gregory Gilman
Tisha Casida
Morgan West
Jaime McMillan | Scott Tipton |  Scott Tipton | No
4th |  Brandon Shaffer
Cory Gardner
Josh Gilliland
Doug Aden | Cory Gardner |  Cory Gardner | No
5th |  Doug Lamborn
George Allen Cantrell (write-in)
Jim Pirtle
Dave Anderson
Kenneth R. Harvell

Misha Luzov | Doug Lamborn |  Doug Lamborn | No
6th |  Joe Miklosi
Mike Coffman
Patrick Provost
Kathy Polhemus | Mike Coffman |  Mike Coffman | No
7th |  Ed Perlmutter
Joe Coors, Jr.
Buck Bailey
Douglas Campbell | Ed Perlmutter |  Ed Perlmutter | No

## Candidates[edit]

### 1st Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Diana DeGette

Danny Stroud

Frank Atwood

Gary Swing

Thomas Henry Juniel

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* Diana DeGette:37,072a Incumbent

Republican Primary

* Danny Stroud:11,936 a
* Richard Murphy:6,407

Green Primary

* Gary Swinga[4]

Libertarian Primary

* Frank Atwooda[5]

Third Party Primary

* Thomas Henry Juniela[6]

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### 2nd Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Jared Polis

Kevin Lundberg

Randy Luallin

Susan Hall

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* Jared Polis:36,097 a Incumbent[7]

Republican Primary

* Eric Weissmann:21,547[8]
* Kevin Lundberg:18,890 a State senator[8]

Libertarian Primary

* Randy Luallina[9]

Green Party Primary

* Susan Halla[10]

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### 3rd Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Sal Pace

Scott Tipton

Gregory Gilman

Tisha Casida

Morgan West

Jaime McMillan

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* Sal Pace:33,970 a State Representative[11]

Republican Primary

* Scott Tipton:48,465 a Incumbent[12]

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Libertarian Primary

* Gaylon Kent
* Gregory Gilman:166 a

Independent candidates

* Tisha Casida a[13]
* Jaime McMillan a[14]
* Morgan West a[15]

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### 4th Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Brandon Shaffer

Cory Gardner

Josh Gilliland

Doug Aden

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* Brandon Shaffer:20,671 a State senator.[16]

Republican Primary

* Cory Gardner:49,340 a Incumbent

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Libertarian Candidate

* Josh Gilliland a

American Constitution Party Primary

* Doug Aden a

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### 5th Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Doug Lamborn

Jim Pirtle

Dave Anderson

Kenneth R. Harvell

Misha Luzov

George Allen Cantrell
Note: Cantrell is running in the general election as a write-in candidate.[17]

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* No candidates filed.

Republican Primary

* Robert Blaha:27,245[18]
* Doug Lamborn:43,929 a Incumbent

Note: The following candidates withdrew prior to the primary: Douglas Bergeron

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Libertarian Primary

* Jim Pirtle a

Green Party Primary

* Misha Luzov a[19]

Independent Candidate

* Dave Anderson a[20]

American Constitution Party Primary

* Kenneth R. Harvell a[21]

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### 6th Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Joe Miklosi

Mike Coffman

Patrick Provost

Kathy Polhemus

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* Joe Miklosi a State representative[22]

Republican Primary

* Mike Coffman a Incumbent

Libertarian Primary

* Patrick Provost a[23]

Third Party Primary

* Kathy Polhemus a[24]

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### 7th Congressional District[edit]

General election candidates

Ed Perlmutter

Joe Coors, Jr.

Douglas Campbell

Buck Bailey

June 26, 2012 primary results

Democratic Primary

* Ed Perlmutter a Incumbent

Republican Primary

* Joe Coors, Jr. a[25]

Libertarian Party Primary

* Buck Bailey a[26]

American Constitution Party Primary

* Douglas Campbell a

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## Race background[edit]

The Washington Post listed the House of Representatives elections in Colorado in 2012 as one of the 10 states that could determine whether Democrats would retake the House or Republicans would hold their majority in 2013.[27] Colorado ranked 6th on the list.[27]

## See also[edit]

* United States House of Representatives elections, 2012

## External links[edit]

* Official candidate list

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State, "Go Vote Colorado," accessed July 21, 2012
2. ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed July 25, 2012
3. ↑ , "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Colorado," September 2012
4. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"]
5. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"]
6. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"]
7. ↑ Daily Camera "U.S. Rep. Jared Polis to launch re-election campaign in Boulder," accessed March 10, 2012
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Colorado Statesman "Weissmann announces GOP candidate in CD 2," February 20, 2012
9. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
10. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
11. ↑ "Colorado Rep. Pace to challenge Tipton in 3rd District," AspenTimes.com, May 31, 2011
12. ↑ Steamboat Today "Congressman Scott Tipton to visit Yampa Valley on Saturday," accessed March 10, 2012
13. ↑ "Pace running for 3rd Congressional District," Chieftain.com, June 1, 2011
14. ↑ Email submission to Ballotpedia, May 28, 2012
15. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State Candidate List (accessed September 5, 2012)
16. ↑ "Shaffer: I will run for Congress," TimesCall.com, July 4, 2011
17. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
18. ↑ denverpost.com, "Colorado Springs U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn announces re-election bid," January 22, 2012
19. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
20. ↑ themountainmail.com, "Anderson runs for Congress," November 8, 2011
21. ↑ www.sos.state.co.us, "Unofficial Candidate List - 2012 Primary Election," April 6, 2012
22. ↑ "Video: Not your average Joe launches congressional campaign," denverpost.com, July 29, 2011
23. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
24. ↑ Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
25. ↑ The Colorado Independent, "Coors launches less government, more god congressional campaign," January 31, 2012
26. ↑ [http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Candidates/files/2012GeneralListUnofficial.pdf Colorado Secretary of State "2012 Candidate List"
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Washington Post, "The 10 states that will determine control of the House in 2012," accessed April 25, 2012

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2012 Elections to the United States Congress

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[show]

Colorado's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Michael Bennet (D)

John Hickenlooper (D)

Representatives

District 1

Diana DeGette (D)

District 2

Joe Neguse (D)

District 3

Lauren Boebert (R)

District 4

Ken Buck (R)

District 5

Doug Lamborn (R)

District 6

Jason Crow (D)

District 7

Ed Perlmutter (D)

Democratic Party (6)

Republican Party (3)