2012 United States House of Representatives elections in New York


The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the 27 U.S. representatives from the state. New York lost two congressional seats following the 2010 United States census; the two existing districts that were eliminated were District 9, held by Republican Rep. Bob Turner, and District 22, held by retiring Democratic Rep. Maurice Hinchey.
Party primary elections occurred on June 26, 2012, with the general election coinciding with the national elections on November 6, 2012.
On Election Day, 21 Democrats and six Republicans prevailed. The Democratic Party regained two seats previously held by Republicans, while the Republican Party regained one seat previously held by a Democrat.

Redistricting

Each caucus in the New York State Legislature submitted their proposed 27-district maps to an appointed special master on February 29, 2012. On March 6, the special master Judge Roanne L. Mann released her own proposed map, and slightly revised them again on March 12.
On March 19, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York imposed the special master's maps, with minor modifications.

District 1

Incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop, who had represented the district since 2002, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 50.2% of the vote in 2010 [United States House of Representatives elections in New York#District 1|2010]. The district had a PVI of Even.

Democratic primary

Bishop kicked off his re-election campaign in April 2011.
In March 2011, Bishop was included in a list of potentially vulnerable Democrats by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, having only won by 593 votes in 2010.

Candidates

Nominee
Bishop also had the endorsement of the Working Families Party.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Primary results

Altschuler also had the endorsement of the Conservative Party and Independence Party.

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Disqualified
  • Rick Witt

General election

Results

On election day, Bishop prevailed by a 52.2%-47.8% margin.

District 2

incumbent Peter King, who was redistricted from the 3rd district, said in May 2011 that the Nassau County Republican Party had encouraged him to run for president. King also said, however, that he was focused "entirely on getting re-elected to Congress."

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Peter King, incumbent U.S. Representative
    Disqualified
  • Paul Mourino
King had the endorsement of the Conservative Party and Independence Party.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Falcone also had the endorsement of the Working Families Party.

General election

Results

King won re-election by a margin of more than 15%.

District 3

Democratic incumbent Steve Israel ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
Israel also had the endorsement of the Working Families Party and the Independence Party.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Stephen LaBate, U.S. Army reservist and financial planning advisor
    Disqualified
  • Robert Previdi, teacher
Conservative Party also endorsed LaBate.

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Michael McDermott

General election

Results


District 4

Incumbent Democrat Carolyn McCarthy, who had represented the district since 1997, ran for re-election. She was re-elected with 53.7% of the vote in 2010. The district had a PVI of D+4.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
The Independence Party and Working Families Party endorsed McCarthy.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Primary results

On June 26, 2012, Nassau County legislator Fran Becker defeated Frank Scaturro in a primary election for the Republican nomination, while Scaturro defeated Becker in the Conservative Party primary as a write-in candidate.

General election

Results


District 5

Incumbent Democrat Gregory Meeks, who had represented the district since 1998, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 87.8% of the vote in 2010. The district had a PVI of D+33.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Gregory Meeks, incumbent U.S. Representative
    Eliminated in primary
  • Alan Jennings, former New York City Council member
  • Joseph Marthone, small-business owner
  • Michael Scala, rapper

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Libertarian primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Catherine Wark

General election

Results


District 6

The 6th district was an open seat, consisting mostly of territory from the former 5th and 9th districts. Neither of the two incumbents in those districts, Democrat Gary Ackerman from the 5th and Republican Bob Turner from the 9th, sought re-election. Ackerman retired, while Turner, who represented 51% the voters of the new seat, dropped out of the race in March 2012 to run against incumbent Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand in the Senate election in New York|Senate election].

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Primary results

The Working Families Party endorsed Lancman.

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Evergreen Chou

General election

Results


District 7

Incumbent Nydia Velazquez, who was redistricted from the 12th district, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

New York City Councilman Erik Martin Dilan, the son of current New York State Senator Martin Malave Dilan, challenged Velazquez in the primary with the backing of Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Vito Lopez; the Dilan family and Velazquez supporters had been engaged in a political feud for several years.

Candidates

Nominee

Conservative primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • James Murray

General election

Results


District 8

Incumbent Democrat Edolphus Towns, who was redistricted from the 10th district and was first elected in 1982, announced in April 2012 that he would abandon his plans for re-election.

Democratic primary

Towns's son Darryl, a former member of the New York State Assembly, was formerly considered the "next in line" for the seat; however, in 2011 he accepted a position in the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Candidates

Nominee

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Alan Bellone

General election

Results


District 9

Democrat Yvette Clarke, who was redistricted from the 11th district and had represented that district since 2007, sought re-election in her new district.

Democratic primary

Sylvia Kinard, an attorney and the ex-wife of Bill Thompson, challenged Clarke.

Candidates

Nominee
  • Yvette Clarke, incumbent U.S. Representative
    Eliminated in primary
  • Sylvia Kinard, attorney

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Daniel Cavanaugh

General election

Results


District 10

The new 10th district is located in New York City and includes the Upper West Side of Manhattan, the west side of Lower Manhattan, including Greenwich Village and the Financial District, and parts of Brooklyn, including Borough Park. Incumbent Democrat Jerrold Nadler, who had represented the 8th district since 1993 and the 17th district from 1992 to 1993, ran for re-election. He was re-elected in 2010 with 76% of the vote, and the district had a PVI of D+24

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Results


District 11

Incumbent Republican Michael Grimm, who was redistricted from the 13th district and was first elected in 2010, sought re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Henry "Hank" Bardel

General election

Results

Grimm won re-election by a margin of 52.8% to 46.2%.

District 12

Incumbent Carolyn Maloney, who was redistricted from the 14th district, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Christopher Wight, investor

General election

Results


District 13

Incumbent Democrat Charles B. Rangel, who was redistricted from the 15th district and was censured by the House of Representatives after being found guilty of ethics violations, filed to run for re-election in February 2011.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Primary results

On the night of the June 26 primary, it seemed as though the incumbent Rangel had defeated his closest challenger, State Senator Espaillat, by a 45%-40% margin; Rangel celebrated victory and Espaillat conceded defeat. However, as the counting continued, that margin narrowed considerably. A number of precincts were very late in reporting and Espaillat went to court claiming irregularities in that his supporters had been improperly turned away from polling locations. On Saturday July 7, 2012, Rangel received the primary victory by a margin of 990 votes. The New York City Board of Elections released that Rangel received 18,940 votes and Espaillat had 17,950. On July 9, 2012, Espaillat conceded the election to Rangel.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Craig Schley, community activist

General election

Results


District 14

The redrawn 14th district runs from Newtown Creek in Sunnyside and over LaGuardia Airport and over the three Long Island Sound bridges to the Pelham, Westchester, border. Incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley, who had been redistricted from the 7th district, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • William Gibbons

General election

Results


District 15

, incumbent representative for the 16th district, ran for an 11th term.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Frank Della Valle

General election

Results


District 16

, incumbent representative for the 17th district, ran for a 12th term.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Eliot Engel, incumbent U.S. Representative
    Eliminated in primary
  • Aniello Grimaldi

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Results


District 17

Incumbent Democrat Nita Lowey, who was redistricted from the 18th district, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Mark Rosen who ran against in Lowey 2010, but was forced to drop out of the race after being deployed to Afghanistan (2001–present)|Afghanistan], was expected to seek the Republican nomination. Rosen retired from the Army, eliminating the threat of redeployment during election cycle, but was redistricted out of the district and choose not to run against Lowey a second time.

Candidates

Nominee
  • Joe Carvin, Rye town supervisor, and candidate for senate in 2012
    Eliminated in primary
  • Jim Russell, computer programmer, conservative Christian activist and nominee for this seat in 2010
    Declined
  • Mark Rosen, Army reservist and candidate for this seat in 2010

Independents

Frank Morganthaler, former NYFD lieutenant and private investigator, challenged Nita Lowey and ran on an independent line, We the People.

General election

Results


District 18

Republican Nan Hayworth, who was redistricted from the 19th district and had represented that district since January 2011, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Primary results

Maloney won the Democratic primary with 48% of the vote on June 26, 2012.

General election

Results

On election day, Maloney won by a narrow margin, becoming New York's first openly LGBQ+ member of Congress.

District 19

Incumbent Republican Chris Gibson, who was redistricted from the 20th district, had represented that district since 2011, ran for re-election. He was elected with 53.19% of the vote in 2010. The district had a PVI of Even.
With redistricting settled, the new 19th district went from being a Republican-leaning district to being a swing district.
Because of the dissolution of Maurice Hinchey's district, much of that district, including all of Ulster and Sullivan counties, was dissolved into this new district.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Primary results

Schreibman prevailed in the Democratic primary.

General election

Results


District 20

Incumbent Democrat Paul Tonko ran for re-election in his heavily Democratic, mostly unchanged, district that was formerly numbered as the 21st.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Bob Dieterich

General election

Results


District 21

Incumbent Democrat Bill Owens, who had represented the district since 2009, ran for re-election. He was re-elected with 47.5% of the vote in 2010. The district had a PVI of R+2 in the renumbered 21st District. He faced a rematch against Matt Doheny and was re-elected to a third term, by 4,985 votes.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Matt Doheny a businessman who came within 2,000 votes of beating Owens in 2010, faced Kellie Greene, an Oswego County native and theologian who most recently lived in Arizona, in the primary.

Candidates

Nominee
  • Matt Doheny, businessman and nominee for this seat in 2010
    Eliminated in primary
  • Kellie Greene, Oswego County native and theologian
    Withdrawn
  • Tim Stampfler, corrections officer
    Declined
  • Kelly Eustis, executive director of One Nation PAC
  • Jeff Stabins, eccentric politician

Primary results

Doheny defeated Greene in the Republican primary. Hassig dropped out of the race on November 3, endorsing Owens, but remained on the ballot.
Doheny secured the Independence Party line and the Conservative Party lines, the latter of which he did not have in 2010.

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Donald Hassig, anti-cancer activist
Hassig appeared on the Green line despite the party's disavowal of him over his stance on immigration.

General election

Results


District 22

Republican Richard Hanna, who was redistricted from the 24th district having represented that district since 2011, ran for re-election.

Republican primary

Hanna defeated Michael Kicinski, who was backed by Carl Paladino, Doug Hoffman and other Tea Party activists, in the Republican primary.

Candidates

Nominee
  • Richard Hanna, incumbent U.S. Representative
    Eliminated in primary
  • Michael Kicinski, Tea Party activist and electronics engineer
    Withdrawn
  • Tom Engel
  • George Phillips

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Results


District 23

Incumbent Republican Tom Reed, who was redistricted from the 29th district having represented that district since 2010, ran for re-election. He was elected with 56.3% of the vote in 2010. The district had a PVI of R+3.

Republican primary

Reed was initially noncommittal regarding re-election, stating in July 2011 that "Re-election is the farthest thing from my mind;" he officially announced for re-election on April 30, 2012.

Candidates

Nominee

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Nate Shinagawa, Tompkins County legislator
    Eliminated in primary
  • Leslie Danks Burke, attorney
  • Melissa K. Dobson, corporate lawyer
    Declined
  • Matthew Zeller, former CIA analyst, Afghanistan war veteran and nominee for this seat in 2010

Primary results

Nate Shinagawa won the Democratic primary election over Leslie Danks Burke and Melissa Dobson on June 26, 2012.

General election

Results


District 24

The new 24th district included all of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, and the western part of Oswego County. Incumbent Republican Ann Marie Buerkle, who had represented the 25th district since 2011, sought re-election in the redrawn 24th district. The district had a PVI of D+3.

Republican primary

On February 6, Robert Paul Spencer announced he would run in the Republican primary against Buerkle, citing his opposition to Buerkle's vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, which Spencer believed to be unconstitutional. However, he did not appear on the primary ballot.

Candidates

Nominee

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Dan Maffei, former U.S. Representative
    Withdrawn
  • Brianne Murphy, attorney
    Declined
  • Tom Buckel, member of the Onondaga County legislature

Green primary

Candidates

Nominee
  • Ursula Rozum, public-transportation advocate

General election

Results


District 25

Incumbent Democrat Louise Slaughter, who was redistricted from the 28th district and had represented the Rochester metropolitan area since 1987, ran for re-election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Results


District 26

Incumbent Democrat Brian Higgins, who was redistricted from the 27th district, sought re-election.

Democratic primary

Although his district was expected to become more friendly to Democrats in redistricting, the defeat of Higgins' protege, Chris Fahey, to Republican-backed Democrat Michael P. Kearns in a New York State Assembly race led to the perception that Higgins might have been more vulnerable than previously believed.

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Results


District 27

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Hochul sought election to her first full term. Hochul's district was renumbered the 27th during the redistricting process and was redrawn in a manner that caused it to be more heavily Republican. Hochul was endorsed by the NRA Political Victory Fund. She lost to Republican Chris Collins, 51% to 49%.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

General election

Results