2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
The 2012 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 [United States presidential election] in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Massachusetts voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan.
Although Romney previously served as Massachusetts's Governor from 2003 to 2007, Massachusetts was considered to be a state Obama would win or a safe blue state. Obama ultimately won Massachusetts with 60.67% of the popular vote to Romney's 37.52%, thus winning the state's 11 electoral votes by a 23.15% margin of victory. This was the first time a presidential candidate lost his home state since Al Gore 2000 [United States presidential election in Tennessee|lost Tennessee] in the 2000 election. Romney also became the first Republican candidate to lose his home state since Richard Nixon lost his then-home state of 1968 United States [presidential election in New York|New York] to Hubert Humphrey in 1968.
Massachusetts has been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960, with the only Republican to carry the state since then being Ronald Reagan, in 1980 and 1984. The Democratic nominee has won the state by over 20% in every election from 1996 on, and has swept every county in the state from 1992 on.
In 2012, Massachusetts continued its streak of voting solidly Democratic in presidential elections by rejecting its former governor, Mitt Romney. Romney became the first major party nominee to lose their home state by twenty or more percentage points in 80 years, which would happen again four years later when Donald Trump lost his then-home state of New York by 22 points.
Nevertheless, Romney's 37.52% vote share still stands as of the 2024 presidential election as the highest Republican vote share in Massachusetts since 1988. Romney's 4.20% defeat in Plymouth County was the closest a Republican came to carrying any of Massachusetts' counties between 1988 and 2024.
The 2012 presidential election marks the most recent cycle that Romney would stand for public office as a resident of Massachusetts. He would be on the ballot again in 2018, but as a candidate for U.S. senator from Utah.
To date, this is the last time that the cities of Agawam and Palmer, and the towns of Acushnet, Blackstone, Chester, Freetown, Huntington, Leicester, Ludlow, Monroe, Monson, New Braintree, Russell, Swansea, Templeton, Wales, Ware, and Winchendon voted Democratic, and the last time the city of North Attleborough and the towns of Boxford, Boylston, Cohasset, Dover, Dunstable, Duxbury, Easton, Foxborough, Georgetown, Hamilton, Hingham, Holden, Hopkinton, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Marshfield, Medfield, Norfolk, North Andover, North Reading, Norwell, Paxton, Princeton, Sandwich, Scituate, Sturbridge, Topsfield, Upton, Walpole, Wenham, West Boylston, Westwood, Wilmington, and Wrentham voted Republican. This is also the most recent election which the towns of Hanover, Kingston, Lynnfield, Northbridge, Pembroke, Raynham, Rutland, Sutton, Tewksbury, Townsend, Uxbridge, Westminster, and Whitman would vote for the national losing candidate.
Primary elections
Democratic primary
Incumbent president Barack Obama won the Massachusetts Democratic primary with 81% of the vote. He received no official opposition in the primary, with the other 19% of the vote going to "no preference," write-in candidates, or blank ballots. Through the primary and district caucuses, he won all of the state's 110 pledged delegates, which voted for him at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.| Massachusetts Democratic primary, 2012 | - | - | - |
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Delegates |
| Barack Obama '' | 127,909 | 86.50% | 110 |
| No preference | 16,075 | 10.87% | 0 |
| Write-ins | 3,889 | 2.63% | 0 |
| Totals | 147,873 | 100.00% | 110 |
Republican primary
The 2012 Massachusetts Republican presidential primary was held on March 6, 2012. Among the 41 delegates to the Republican National Convention, 38 are awarded proportionately among candidates getting at least 15% of the vote statewide, and another three super delegates are unbound. As expected, Romney won Massachusetts by a landslide. He won the plurality in every town but 10, and earned the majority in all but 53.Green-Rainbow primary
The 2012 Massachusetts Green-Rainbow presidential primary was held on March 6, 2012.| Massachusetts Green-Rainbow primary, 2012 | - | - | - |
| Candidate | Votes | Percentage | Delegates |
| Jill Stein | 1,018 | 67.06% | 8 |
| No preference | 232 | 15.28% | 2 |
| Kent Mesplay | 89 | 5.86% | 1 |
| Harley Mikkelson | 84 | 5.53% | 1 |
| Write-ins | 95 | 6.26% | 0 |
| Totals | 1,518 | 100.00% | 11 |
General election
Results
By congressional district
Obama won all nine congressional districts.| District | Obama | Romney | Representative |
| 63.96% | 34.27% | Richard Neal | |
| 58.7% | 39.18% | Jim McGovern | |
| 56.91% | 41.41% | Niki Tsongas | |
| 57.24% | 41.29% | Joseph Kennedy III | |
| 65.19% | 33.13% | Ed Markey | |
| 54.74% | 43.89% | John F. Tierney | |
| 82.46% | 15.64% | Mike Capuano | |
| 57.78% | 40.85% | Stephen Lynch | |
| 55.54% | 43.14% | William R. Keating |