2012 United States presidential election in Virginia

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2012
Turnout	66.9% (voting eligible)
Obama 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90%	Romney 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80%
President before election; Barack Obama; Democratic	Elected President ; Barack Obama; Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in Virginia took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Virginia voters chose 13 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.

Virginia was won by President Barack Obama with 51.16% of the vote to Mitt Romney's 47.28%, a 3.88% margin of victory. ^[2]

In 2008, Obama won the state by 6.3%, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia since the nationwide Democratic landslide of 1964, but it had otherwise been a reliably Republican state prior to this. Much of the Democratic gains can be attributed to the growth of progressive suburban Northern Virginia, particularly in Fairfax County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County, all of which voted for Obama twice. Obama's increased strength in this heavily populated region more than canceled out his weakness across rural Virginia. On the other hand, Obama suffered a historically poor showing even in traditionally Democratic counties of Southwest Virginia, similar to his weak performance in neighboring West Virginia. The Republicans would win the White House without taking Virginia in the next election, and for the first time since 1924.

Obama's 2012 win made him the first Democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to carry Virginia for the Democrats in two consecutive elections. The Democratic margin of victory also made 2012 the first time since 1948 that Virginia was more Democratic than the nation as a whole, albeit narrowly: Obama carried Virginia by 3.88%, while winning nationally by 3.86%.

This was also the first election since 1976 in which Virginia did not vote in the same way as neighboring North Carolina.

General election

Candidate Ballot Access:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Democratic
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, Republican
Virgil Goode and Jim Clymer, Constitution
Gary Johnson and James P. Gray, Libertarian
Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, Green

Results

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2012^[3]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Barack Obama (Incumbent)	Joe Biden (Incumbent)	1,971,820	51.16%	13
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,822,522	47.28%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	31,216	0.81%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	13,058	0.34%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	8,627	0.22%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins		7,246	0.19%	0
Totals				3,854,489	100.00%	13

By county/city

County/City	Obama%	Obama#	Romney%	Romney#	Others%	Others#	Total
Accomack	47.69%	7,655	51.17%	8,213	1.14%	183	16,051
Albemarle	55.20%	29,757	43.22%	23,297	1.58%	853	53,907
Alleghany	47.44%	3,403	50.12%	3,595	2.44%	175	7,173
Amelia	36.01%	2,490	62.63%	4,331	1.36%	94	6,915
Amherst	39.41%	5,900	59.29%	8,876	1.30%	194	14,970
Appomattox	30.91%	2,453	67.30%	5,340	1.79%	142	7,935
Arlington	69.10%	81,269	29.31%	34,474	1.59%	1,865	117,608
Augusta	28.07%	9,451	70.16%	23,624	1.77%	597	33,672
Bath	40.22%	894	57.31%	1,274	2.47%	55	2,223
Bedford	27.28%	10,209	71.29%	26,679	1.43%	537	37,425
Bland	24.93%	735	72.73%	2,144	2.34%	69	2,948
Botetourt	29.89%	5,452	68.41%	12,479	1.70%	310	18,241
Brunswick	62.14%	4,994	36.93%	2,968	0.93%	75	8,037
Buchanan	32.08%	3,094	66.72%	6,436	1.20%	116	9,646
Buckingham	50.31%	3,750	47.88%	3,569	1.81%	135	7,454
Campbell	29.56%	7,595	68.86%	17,695	1.58%	406	25,696
Caroline	53.30%	7,276	45.06%	6,151	1.65%	225	13,652
Carroll	28.53%	3,685	67.63%	8,736	3.85%	497	12,918
Charles City	65.50%	2,772	32.99%	1,396	1.51%	64	4,232
Charlotte	42.44%	2,503	56.14%	3,311	1.42%	84	5,898
Chesterfield	45.44%	77,694	53.18%	90,934	1.38%	2,360	170,988
Clarke	41.73%	3,239	55.35%	4,296	2.92%	227	7,762
Craig	31.12%	830	65.88%	1,757	3.00%	80	2,667
Culpeper	40.99%	8,285	57.30%	11,580	1.71%	346	20,211
Cumberland	47.98%	2,422	50.28%	2,538	1.74%	88	5,048
Dickenson	35.82%	2,473	61.91%	4,274	2.27%	157	6,904
Dinwiddie	48.20%	6,550	50.59%	6,875	1.21%	164	13,589
Essex	53.15%	3,016	45.85%	2,602	1.00%	57	5,675
Fairfax	59.57%	315,273	39.07%	206,773	1.37%	7,241	529,287
Fauquier	39.27%	13,965	59.16%	21,034	1.57%	558	35,557
Floyd	35.74%	2,732	61.13%	4,673	3.13%	239	7,644
Fluvanna	46.22%	5,893	52.38%	6,678	1.40%	178	12,749
Franklin	34.04%	9,090	62.60%	16,718	3.37%	899	26,707
Frederick	34.87%	12,690	62.81%	22,858	2.32%	846	36,394
Giles	36.14%	2,730	61.70%	4,660	2.16%	163	7,553
Gloucester	35.08%	6,764	62.94%	12,137	1.98%	382	19,283
Goochland	35.12%	4,676	63.45%	8,448	1.43%	191	13,315
Grayson	29.04%	2,068	67.42%	4,801	3.54%	252	7,121
Greene	36.46%	3,290	61.72%	5,569	1.82%	164	9,023
Greensville	63.64%	3,135	35.85%	1,766	0.51%	25	4,926
Halifax	46.53%	7,766	52.08%	8,694	1.39%	232	16,692
Hanover	30.98%	18,294	67.63%	39,940	1.40%	824	59,058
Henrico	55.22%	89,594	43.42%	70,449	1.35%	2,198	162,241
Henry	41.33%	10,317	56.02%	13,984	2.65%	662	24,963
Highland	32.48%	459	65.39%	924	2.12%	30	1,413
Isle of Wight	42.07%	8,761	56.67%	11,802	1.27%	264	20,827
James City	43.35%	17,879	55.39%	22,843	1.26%	518	41,240
King and Queen	47.74%	1,745	51.03%	1,865	1.23%	45	3,655
King George	39.53%	4,477	58.31%	6,604	2.15%	244	11,325
King William	37.48%	3,344	61.26%	5,466	1.27%	113	8,923
Lancaster	45.24%	3,149	53.91%	3,753	0.85%	59	6,961
Lee	26.91%	2,583	71.34%	6,847	1.75%	168	9,598
Loudoun	51.53%	82,479	47.04%	75,292	1.43%	2,289	160,060
Louisa	42.26%	6,953	56.01%	9,215	1.73%	284	16,452
Lunenburg	46.81%	2,684	51.78%	2,969	1.41%	81	5,734
Madison	39.90%	2,639	58.50%	3,869	1.60%	106	6,614
Mathews	33.62%	1,807	64.91%	3,488	1.47%	79	5,374
Mecklenburg	45.90%	6,921	52.88%	7,973	1.21%	183	15,077
Middlesex	38.98%	2,370	59.52%	3,619	1.50%	91	6,080
Montgomery	48.53%	19,903	48.78%	20,006	2.68%	1,100	41,009
Nelson	50.56%	4,171	47.84%	3,947	1.60%	132	8,250
New Kent	32.46%	3,555	66.16%	7,246	1.39%	152	10,953
Northampton	57.63%	3,741	41.23%	2,676	1.14%	74	6,491
Northumberland	42.22%	3,191	57.03%	4,310	0.75%	57	7,558
Nottoway	48.85%	3,344	49.80%	3,409	1.36%	93	6,846
Orange	42.01%	6,870	56.52%	9,244	1.47%	240	16,354
Page	36.41%	3,724	62.03%	6,344	1.56%	160	10,228
Patrick	29.27%	2,417	68.07%	5,622	2.66%	220	8,259
Pittsylvania	35.39%	10,858	62.78%	19,263	1.83%	560	30,681
Powhatan	26.33%	4,088	72.14%	11,200	1.53%	237	15,525
Prince Edward	55.55%	5,132	42.78%	3,952	1.68%	155	9,239
Prince George	43.57%	6,991	55.33%	8,879	1.10%	176	16,046
Prince William	57.34%	103,331	41.32%	74,458	1.34%	2,406	180,195
Pulaski	36.05%	5,292	60.76%	8,920	3.19%	468	14,680
Rappahannock	45.44%	1,980	53.04%	2,311	1.51%	66	4,357
Richmond	41.75%	1,574	57.29%	2,160	0.95%	36	3,770
Roanoke	36.53%	18,711	61.75%	31,624	1.72%	882	51,217
Rockbridge	40.17%	4,088	57.95%	5,898	1.88%	191	10,177
Rockingham	28.87%	10,065	69.37%	24,186	1.76%	615	34,866
Russell	30.76%	3,718	67.67%	8,180	1.57%	190	12,088
Scott	23.97%	2,395	74.45%	7,439	1.58%	158	9,992
Shenandoah	33.39%	6,469	64.72%	12,538	1.89%	366	19,373
Smyth	32.64%	4,171	65.58%	8,379	1.78%	227	12,777
Southampton	47.90%	4,437	51.09%	4,733	1.01%	94	9,264
Spotsylvania	43.41%	25,165	54.93%	31,844	1.66%	965	57,974
Stafford	44.87%	27,182	53.61%	32,480	1.52%	921	60,583
Surry	59.80%	2,576	38.79%	1,671	1.42%	61	4,308
Sussex	61.73%	3,358	37.15%	2,021	1.12%	61	5,440
Tazewell	20.65%	3,661	78.07%	13,843	1.29%	228	17,732
Warren	38.64%	6,452	59.10%	9,869	2.26%	377	16,698
Washington	27.61%	7,076	70.77%	18,141	1.62%	415	25,632
Westmoreland	52.89%	4,295	45.95%	3,731	1.16%	94	8,120
Wise	25.04%	3,760	73.75%	11,076	1.21%	182	15,018
Wythe	30.61%	3,783	67.36%	8,324	2.03%	251	12,358
York	38.83%	13,183	59.51%	20,204	1.67%	566	33,953
Alexandria	71.11%	52,199	27.58%	20,249	1.31%	963	73,411
Bedford	43.67%	1,225	54.44%	1,527	1.89%	53	2,805
Bristol	33.73%	2,492	64.71%	4,780	1.56%	115	7,387
Buena Vista	36.38%	919	61.92%	1,564	1.70%	43	2,526
Charlottesville	75.74%	16,510	22.22%	4,844	2.03%	443	21,797
Chesapeake	49.85%	55,052	48.81%	53,900	1.33%	1,473	110,425
Colonial Heights	29.50%	2,544	68.89%	5,941	1.61%	139	8,624
Covington	56.61%	1,319	41.85%	975	1.55%	36	2,330
Danville	60.47%	12,218	38.42%	7,763	1.10%	223	20,204
Emporia	66.51%	1,793	32.86%	886	0.63%	17	2,696
Fairfax	57.19%	6,651	41.06%	4,775	1.75%	203	11,629
Falls Church	68.93%	5,015	29.51%	2,147	1.57%	114	7,276
Franklin	64.98%	2,833	34.31%	1,496	0.71%	31	4,360
Fredericksburg	62.35%	7,131	35.50%	4,060	2.15%	246	11,437
Galax	39.53%	900	58.50%	1,332	1.98%	45	2,277
Hampton	70.64%	46,966	28.03%	18,640	1.33%	884	66,490
Harrisonburg	55.50%	8,654	42.10%	6,565	2.40%	375	15,594
Hopewell	57.35%	5,179	41.40%	3,739	1.25%	113	9,031
Lexington	55.30%	1,486	42.65%	1,146	2.05%	55	2,687
Lynchburg	43.76%	15,948	54.34%	19,806	1.90%	694	36,448
Manassas	55.78%	8,478	42.52%	6,463	1.70%	259	15,200
Manassas Park	61.83%	2,879	36.49%	1,699	1.68%	78	4,656
Martinsville	61.35%	3,855	36.79%	2,312	1.86%	117	6,284
Newport News	64.32%	51,100	34.28%	27,230	1.40%	1,114	79,444
Norfolk	72.02%	62,687	26.59%	23,147	1.39%	1,209	87,043
Norton	37.94%	566	59.99%	895	2.08%	31	1,492
Petersburg	89.79%	14,283	09.60%	1,527	0.62%	98	15,908
Poquoson	23.63%	1,679	74.75%	5,312	1.62%	115	7,106
Portsmouth	70.77%	32,501	28.00%	12,858	1.23%	563	45,922
Radford	50.60%	2,732	46.68%	2,520	2.72%	147	5,399
Richmond	77.81%	75,921	20.55%	20,050	1.64%	1,598	97,569
Roanoke	60.10%	24,134	37.33%	14,991	2.57%	1,030	40,155
Salem	38.64%	4,760	59.25%	7,299	2.10%	259	12,318
Staunton	51.10%	5,728	47.03%	5,272	1.87%	210	11,210
Suffolk	57.01%	24,267	41.86%	17,820	1.13%	479	42,566
Virginia Beach	47.95%	94,299	50.49%	99,291	1.55%	3,051	196,641
Waynesboro	43.68%	3,840	54.49%	4,790	1.83%	161	8,791
Williamsburg	63.28%	4,903	34.62%	2,682	2.10%	163	7,748
Winchester	49.48%	5,094	48.04%	4,946	2.49%	256	10,296

Source: [2]

Democratic primary

Because Democratic President Barack Obama was unopposed by members of his party in seeking reelection, no Democratic primary was held.

Republican primary

The Republican primary took place on Super Tuesday, March 6, 2012.^[4]^[5]

Virginia has 49 delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention including three unbound superdelegates. 33 delegates are awarded on a winner-take-all basis by congressional district. The other 13 are awarded to the candidate who wins a majority statewide, or allocated proportionally if no one gets majority.^[6]

Virginia Republican primary, March 6, 2012^[7]^[8]
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates^[9]
Mitt Romney	158,119	59.54%	43
Ron Paul	107,451	40.46%	3
Unprojected delegates:			3
Total:	265,570	100.00%	49

Ballot

Only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul appeared on the ballot. Other candidates failed to submit the necessary 10,000 signatures (including at least 400 from each of the state's 11 congressional districts) required to get on the ballot by the deadline of 22 December 2011.^[10]

On 27 December, Rick Perry filed a lawsuit – joined later by Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum – in the federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Richmond that challenged provisions that determine who can appear on the primary ballot. Perry and the other candidates argued that the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party and members of State Board of Elections violated their rights by enforcing state requirements as to the number of signatures, the qualifications for signers and the requirement that all petition circulators be "an eligible or registered qualified voter in Virginia." Perry and the other litigants argued that these restrictions "impose a severe burden" on their freedoms of speech and association under the First and Fourteenth Amendment.^[11]^[12]^[13]

The case was Perry v. Judd. U.S. District Judge John A. Gibney, Jr. ruled on 29 December that he would not issue an injunction to stop the printing of ballots before a scheduled hearing on 13 January.^[14] The Virginia Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, representing the state, made a motion to dismiss the case because of a lack of standing.^[15] On 13 January, Judge Gibney, Jr. dismissed the lawsuit citing the equitable doctrine of laches ("sleeping on one's rights"), writing, "They knew the rules in Virginia many months ago... In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair."^[16] The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed, emphasizing that although the constitutional challenge had merit and was possibly even likely to prevail, the candidate plaintiffs' failure to file in a timely fashion required dismissal.^[17]

References

^ Dr. Michael McDonald (December 31, 2012). "2012 General Election Turnout Rates". George Mason University. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
^ "VA Board of Elections". Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.
^ http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2012election.pdf
^ "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
^ "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
^ Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2012-03-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Virginia Republican". March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
^ "Super Tuesday Delegate Count". DemocraticConventionWatch.com. March 6, 2012. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
^ Anita Kumar, "Gingrich, Perry disqualified from Va. primary ballot" (December 24, 2011).
^ Martin Weil and Anita Kumar. "[1]" (December 27, 2011). Washington Post.
^ Catalina Camia, "Perry sues to get on Virginia ballot" (December 28, 2011). USA Today.
^ Kevin Liptak, "Candidates join Perry's Virginia lawsuit" (December 31, 2011). CNN.
^ Rebecca Kaplan, "Perry Hearing on Virginia Ballot Challenge Set for Jan. 13 Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine" (December 29, 2011). National Journal.
^ Tom Schoenberg, "Virginia Argues Perry Can't Challenge Ballot" (January 4, 2012). Bloomberg.
^ Catalina Camia, "Judge rejects Perry, GOP hopefuls for Va. ballot" (January 13, 2012). USA Today.
^ (Court case). 2012 http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Unpublished/121067R1.U.pdf. Retrieved 16 November 2013. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |litigants= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |opinion= ignored (help)

External links

The Green Papers: for Virginia
The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order

[VEP12-1] Dr. Michael McDonald (December 31, 2012). "2012 General Election Turnout Rates". George Mason University. Archived from the original on April 24, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.

[2] "VA Board of Elections". Archived from the original on May 10, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2013.

[3] ttp://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2012election.pdf

[4] "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 12, 2012.

[5] "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.

[6] Nate Silver (March 4, 2012). "Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 5, 2012.

[7] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2012-03-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[TGP-VA-8] "Virginia Republican". March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.

[DCW_count-9] "Super Tuesday Delegate Count". DemocraticConventionWatch.com. March 6, 2012. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2012.

[10] Anita Kumar, "Gingrich, Perry disqualified from Va. primary ballot" (December 24, 2011).

[11] Martin Weil and Anita Kumar. "[1]" (December 27, 2011). Washington Post.

[12] Catalina Camia, "Perry sues to get on Virginia ballot" (December 28, 2011). USA Today.

[Virginia-13] Kevin Liptak, "Candidates join Perry's Virginia lawsuit" (December 31, 2011). CNN.

[14] Rebecca Kaplan, "Perry Hearing on Virginia Ballot Challenge Set for Jan. 13 Archived 2012-03-04 at the Wayback Machine" (December 29, 2011). National Journal.

[15] Tom Schoenberg, "Virginia Argues Perry Can't Challenge Ballot" (January 4, 2012). Bloomberg.

[16] Catalina Camia, "Judge rejects Perry, GOP hopefuls for Va. ballot" (January 13, 2012). USA Today.

[perry-17] (Court case). 2012 http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Unpublished/121067R1.U.pdf. Retrieved 16 November 2013. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |litigants= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |opinion= ignored (help)

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