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Illinois' 13th Congressional District elections, 2012

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Illinois' 13th Congressional District
General Election Date
November 6, 2012
Primary Date
March 20, 2012
November 6 Election Winner:
Rodney Davis Republican Party
Incumbent prior to election:
Judy Biggert Republican Party

Judy Biggert.jpg

Illinois U.S. House Elections District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17 • District 18
2012 U.S. Senate Elections

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The 13th Congressional District of Illinois held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012.

Republican Rodney Davis won the election.[1]

Candidate Filing Deadline Primary Election General Election
December 27, 2011 March 20, 2012 November 6, 2012

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 Judy Biggert (R), who was first elected in 1998. Biggert no longer lives in the redrawn district.[4] She ran for the seat in the 11th District in 2012.

This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. Illinois' 13th Congressional District makes up a stretch of the central portion of the state. It includes Calhoun, greene, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, Christian, Sangamon, Macon, Dewitt, Piatt and Champaign counties.[5]

On April 5, 2012, Timothy V. Johnson announced his plans to retire after winning in the Republican primary.[6] He did not run for re-election in the general election.[6] Republican Party chairmen from the 14 counties in the 13th Congressional District will select Johnson's replacement to run against David Gill (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.

Candidates

General election candidates

Republican Party Rodney DavisGreen check mark transparent.png
Democratic Party David Gill
Grey.png John Hartman


March 20, 2012, primary results

Note: On April 5, 2012. Timothy V. Johnson announced his plan to retire after winning in the Republican primary.[6] He did not run for re-election in the general election.[6] Republican Party chairmen from the 14 counties in the 13th Congressional District selected Johnson's replacement to run against David Gill (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012. In May 2012, Rodney Davis was selected Johnson's appointment.[14]

Election results

General Election

U.S. House, Illinois District 13 General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngRodney Davis 46.5% 137,034
     Democratic David Gill 46.2% 136,032
     Independent John Hartman 7.2% 21,319
Total Votes 294,385
Source: Illinois Board of Elections "2012 General Election Official Vote Totals"

Democratic Primary

U.S. House, Illinois District 13 Democratic Primary, 2012
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngDavid Gill 50.3% 15,536
Matt Goetten 49.7% 15,373
Total Votes 30,909

Republican Primary

U.S. House, Illinois District 13 Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngTim Johnson Incumbent 68.7% 35,655
Frank Metzger 18.4% 9,571
Michael Firsching 12.9% 6,706
Total Votes 51,932

Race background

Competitiveness

Illinois' 13th was considered to be a Leaning Republican according to the New York Times race ratings. After winning the primary, incumbent Timothy Johnson (R) retired. Democrats had claimed that he did this to help his successor, so that they wouldn't look to his district as an open seat.[15]

Illinois' 13th 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.[16]

Republican challenger Rodney Davis had been included in the National Republican Congressional Committee's Young Guns program. The program highlighted challengers who represent the GOP's best chances to pick up congressional seats in the general election.[17]

Using the Federal Election Commission's October Quarterly campaign finance filings, the Brennan Center for Justice at The New York University School of Law published a report on October 22nd focusing on the 25 House races rated most competitive by The Cook Political Report, including the race for Illinois' 13th. The report examined the relative spending presence of non-candidate groups, candidates and small donors in these races - "which will likely determine which party will control the House."[18]

List of 25 Toss Up Races from the Cook Political Report:[19] 

Democratic Toss Ups:

  1. Georgia-12
  2. Illinois-12
  3. Kentucky-6
  4. Nevada-4
  5. New York-27
  6. North Carolina-7
  7. Pennsylvania-12
  8. Utah-4

Republican Toss Ups:

  1. Arizona-1
  2. California-7
  3. California-10
  4. California-26
  5. California-36
  6. California-52
  7. Colorado-6
  8. Florida-18
  9. Illinois-11
  10. Illinois-13
  11. California-17
  12. Michigan-1
  13. Minnesota-8
  14. Nevada-3
  15. New Hampshire-1
  16. New York-18
  17. New York-19
  18. Ohio-16
  19. Texas-23

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.[20] Illinois has had 11 Republican congressmen and 8 Democrats since the November 2010 election.[20] The new map, designed by the dominant Democrats, could have flipped that advantage to as many as 12 Democrats and only six Republicans.[20]

The newly redrawn 13th District is more favorable to Democrats. That, combined with the retirement of Republican incumbent Tim Johnson, had turned the 13th from a safe Republican seat to a swing district.[21]

The new 13th District was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[22][23]

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' 13th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[24]

  • 2012: 52D / 48R
  • 2010: 45D / 55R

Cook Political Report's PVI

See also: Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

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' 13th Congressional District has a PVI of D+1, which is the 183rd most Republican district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 56-44 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, George W. Bush (R) won the district 51-49 percent over John Kerry (D).[25]

Campaign donors

2012

David Gill (2012)[26] Campaign Finance Reports
ReportDate FiledBeginning BalanceTotal Contributions
for Reporting Period		ExpendituresCash on Hand
Pre-Primary[27]March 5, 2012$28,759.93$56,478.18$(34,756.92)$50,481.19
April Quarterly[28]April 11, 2012$50,481.19$40,284.25$(16,466.73)$
Running totals
$96,762.43$(51,223.65)

Republican candidate Rodney Davis reportedly raised $440,000 in the six week period since being nominated, and had $400,000 cash-on-hand.[29]

District history

Candidate ballot access

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Find detailed information on ballot access requirements in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

2010

On November 2, 2010, Judy Biggert won election to the United States House of Representatives. She defeated Scott Harper (R) in the general election.[30]

U.S. House, Illinois District 13 General Election, 2010
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngJudy Biggert 64% 149,857
     Democratic Scott Harper 36% 84,290
Total Votes 234,147

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Politico, "2012 Election Map, Illinois"
  2. ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "2012 Election Calendar," accessed July 21, 2012
  3. ↑ Illinois Board of Elections, "Registering to Vote in Illinois," accessed July 21, 2012
  4. ↑ Chicago Sun-Times, "Illinois Democrats target GOP with redrawing of congressional map" accessed December 5, 2011
  5. ↑ June 2011 Illinois Redistricting, "Map" accessed July 23, 2012
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 WJBC "Kinzinger: ‘Not happy’ with Johnson’s retirement" accessed April 21, 2012
  7. ↑ The News-Gazette "Gill will run again; another Dem may enter race in 13th" accessed December 6, 2011
  8. ↑ Roll Call "Goetten to Challenge Timothy Johnson in Illinois" accessed December 6, 2011
  9. ↑ ABC News 7 "Election Results Primary 2012" accessed March 20, 2012
  10. ↑ State Journal-Register "Rep. Johnson will run in new 13th U.S. House District" accessed December 6, 2011
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Telegraph "Johnson faces two challengers in 13th District GOP primary" accessed March 15, 2012
  12. ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" accessed December 27, 2011
  13. ↑ Illinois State Board of Elections "Candidate List" accessed December 27, 2011
  14. ↑ Roll Call, "Illinois: New 13th District GOP Nominee Rakes In More Than $400K" accessed July 11, 2012
  15. ↑ New York Times, "House Race Ratings," accessed August 7, 2012
  16. ↑ DCCC, "Red to Blue 2012"
  17. ↑ NRCC "Young Guns 2012"
  18. ↑ Brennan Center for Justice, "Election Spending 2012: 25 Toss-Up House Races," October 22, 2012
  19. ↑ The Cook Political Report, "House: Race Ratings," updated October 18, 2012
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Chicago Tribune, "Odd geography in new Illinois congressional map:Millions of constituents will find their representative has changed" accessed February 22, 2012
  21. ↑ Washington Post blog, "The 10 House districts that might surprise you," May 11, 2012
  22. ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "Illinois' congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
  23. ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
  24. ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in Illinois," September 2012
  25. ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
  26. ↑ FEC Reports, "David Gill Summary Reports" accessed July 13, 2012
  27. ↑ FEC Reports, "Pre-Primary" accessed July 13, 2012
  28. ↑ FEC Reports, "April Quarterly" accessed July 13, 2012
  29. ↑ Roll Call, "Illinois: New 13th District GOP Nominee Rakes In More Than $400K'" accessed July 11, 2012
  30. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013

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