2012 United States presidential election in Arizona

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

2012 United States presidential election in Arizona

←  2008 November 6, 2012 2016  →
Turnout	74.36%
Nominee Mitt Romney Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Massachusetts Illinois Running mate Paul Ryan Joe Biden Electoral vote 11 0 Popular vote 1,233,654 1,025,232 Percentage 53.65% 44.59%
County Results Precinct Results Romney   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Obama   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Tie/No Data
President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The 2012 United States presidential election in Arizona 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. State 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. Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state Romney would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. Arizona was won by Romney with a 9.06% margin. This is the most recent presidential election in which Arizona failed to back the national winner, and when the Democratic candidate won a presidential election without winning the state. Obama remains the only president to win two terms in office without carrying Arizona either time since the state's founding in 1912. Arizona is also one of only two states that Obama lost in 2008 or 2012 that his vice president Joe Biden would go on to win in 2020, the other being Georgia. This also remains the most recent election where Arizona voted to the right of Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and North Carolina.

Until 2020, Arizona had been won by the Republican nominee for president in every election since 1952, except when Bill Clinton narrowly carried the state over Bob Dole in 1996. No Democratic presidential nominee has won a majority in the state since Harry S. Truman in 1948, and the 2012 election remains the most recent presidential election in which any candidate won a majority of the vote.

Primary elections

Democratic primary

Incumbent President Barack Obama won all the delegates.

Republican primary

2012 Arizona Republican primary

←  2008 February 28, 2012 (2012-02-28) 2016  →

Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania Delegate count 29 0 Popular vote 216,805 122,088 Percentage 47.3% 26.6%   Candidate Newt Gingrich Ron Paul Home state Georgia Texas Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 74,110 38,753 Percentage 16.2% 8.45%

Arizona results by county   Mitt Romney

The Republican primary was a closed primary that took place on February 28, 2012. ^[1] More than 1,130,000 registered Republican voters participated in the event, the purpose of which was to select delegates from the state to attend the Republican National Convention on behalf of candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. The Republican National Committee removed half of Arizona's delegate allocation because the state committee moved its Republican primary before March 6. Arizona therefore held a ballot to select 29 proportionally-allocated delegates. This election occurred the same day as the Michigan Republican primary. The Arizona primary was set as a winner-take-all contest, another violation of RNC delegate allocation rules, which require proportional allocation for all primaries held before April 1. Endorsements from 2008 primary rival and U.S. Senator John McCain ^[2] and Governor Jan Brewer ^[3] helped add to the prospects of a victory for Romney in Arizona.

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries § Arizona (February 28)

Project White House

The small alternative newspaper Tucson Weekly, for the second election in a row, has sponsored an event called "Project White House" ^[4] in which it gets as many ordinary citizens on the ballot as it possibly can. Afterward, a series of "reality show style" competitions occurred, including candidate meet-and-greets, and two televised debates which were sponsored by the Tucson Weekly, a local public-access television show called Illegal Knowledge, and local public television stations. ^[5]

The two debates took place on February 18 and February 19, 2012, both were commercial-free, one hour long each, and both aired on Access Tucson while they were streamed live on the internet. ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]} Both debates were produced in conjunction with Project White House and Jim Nintzel of the Tucson Weekly.

The first debate, held on the 18th at 8 pm MST, produced by Illegal Knowledge ^[6] and hosted by Dave Maass of San Diego CityBeat, ^[10] had nine participants, composed of eight lesser known Republican candidates (Donald Benjamin, Simon Bollander, Cesar Cisneros, Kip Dean, Sarah Gonzales, Al "Dick" Perry, Charles Skelley and Jim Terr) and one Green Party candidate (Michael Oatman). ^[7] A press release regarding this first debate was distributed which invited all candidates listed on either Republican or Green Party ballots in Arizona to the first debate, ^[11] although none of the major Republican or Green Party candidates appeared.

The second debate, held on the 19th at 7pm MST, produced by Access Tucson ^[8] and hosted by both Dave Maass of San Diego CityBeat and Amanda Hurley of The University of Arizona School of Journalism, ^[10] was restricted only to Republican candidates and featured seven of the eight lesser known Republican candidates from the previous night (less Cesar Cisneros). ^[9]

There was a third Arizona debate which took place in Mesa, AZ on February 22, 2012, but was not associated with Project White House and had only invited the four major Republican candidates to participate. ^{[12] [13]}

Two lesser known candidates appearing in the first debates, Sarah Gonzales (who placed sixth) and Michael Oatman (who placed tied for third), placed ahead of their better known Republican and Green Party counterparts (Buddy Roemer and Gerard Davis respectively) in the Arizona Presidential Preference Election Results from February 28, 2012. ^[14]

Campaign

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer, Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum were contesting and campaigning in the Arizona primary.

Televised debates in Arizona were held on February 18 and 19, 2012, on Public-access television ^[15] and February 22, 2012, on CNN. Only the major Republican candidates, except for Roemer^{[ citation needed ]}, were invited to the third, and none of them attended the first two.

Twenty-three candidates appeared on the presidential primary ballot, ^[16] 11 of whom are residents of the state. ^[17]

Results

Main article: Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries

The 2012 Arizona Republican state convention, which determined delegates who would be sent to the RNC.

Arizona was allocated 29 delegates because it moved its primary to February 28. ^[18]

Voter turnout = 45.3% ^[19]

Arizona Republican primary, 2012 ^[20]

Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Delegates [21]
Mitt Romney	239,167	46.87%	26
Rick Santorum	138,031	27.05%	0
Newt Gingrich	81,748	16.02%	0
Ron Paul	43,952	8.61%	3
Rick Perry (withdrawn)	2,023	0.40%	0
Sarah Gonzales	1,544	0.30%	0
Buddy Roemer (withdrawn)	692	0.14%	0
Paul Sims	530	0.10%	0
Cesar Cisneros	418	0.08%	0
Mark Callahan	358	0.07%	0
Al "Dick" Perry	310	0.06%	0
Donald Benjamin	223	0.04%	0
Michael Levinson	217	0.04%	0
Kip Dean	198	0.04%	0
Ronald Zack	156	0.03%	0
Christopher Hill	139	0.03%	0
Frank Lynch	110	0.02%	0
Wayne Charles Arnett	96	0.02%	0
Raymond Scott Perkins	90	0.02%	0
Matt Welch	86	0.02%	0
Jim Terr	59	0.01%	0
Charles Skelley	57	0.01%	0
Simon Bollander	54	0.01%	0
Total:	510,258	100.00%	29

General election

Ballot access

• Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan, Republican
• Barack Obama/Joseph Biden, Democratic
• Gary Johnson/James P. Gray, Libertarian
• Jill Stein/Cheri Honkala, Green

Write-in candidate access:

• Virgil Goode/Jim Clymer, Constitution
• Rocky Anderson/Luis J. Rodriguez, Justice

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Arizona [22]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,233,654	53.48%	11
	Democratic	Barack Obama (incumbent)	Joe Biden (incumbent)	1,025,232	44.45%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	32,100	1.39%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	7,816	0.34%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	289	0.01%	0
	Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	119	0.01%	0
	Other Write-In	Other Write-In		7,349	0.32%	0
Totals				2,306,559	100.00%	11

By county

County	Mitt Romney Republican		Barack Obama Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Apache	8,250	31.83%	17,147	66.16%	520	2.01%	-8,897	-34.33%	25,917
Cochise	29,497	59.95%	18,546	37.69%	1,158	2.35%	10,951	22.26%	49,021
Coconino	21,220	40.84%	29,257	56.30%	1,485	2.86%	-8,037	-15.46%	51,962
Gila	13,455	62.31%	7,697	35.64%	443	2.05%	5,758	26.67%	21,595
Graham	8,076	67.84%	3,609	30.31%	220	1.85%	4,467	37.53%	11,905
Greenlee	1,592	53.32%	1,310	43.87%	84	2.81%	282	9.45%	2,986
La Paz	3,714	64.76%	1,880	32.78%	141	2.46%	1,834	31.98%	5,735
Maricopa	749,885	54.30%	602,288	43.61%	28,786	2.08%	147,597	10.69%	1,380,959
Mohave	49,168	69.91%	19,533	27.77%	1,627	2.31%	29,635	42.14%	70,328
Navajo	19,884	53.07%	16,945	45.23%	636	1.70%	2,939	7.84%	37,465
Pima	174,779	45.61%	201,251	52.52%	7,143	1.86%	-26,472	-6.91%	383,173
Pinal	62,079	57.12%	44,306	40.77%	2,297	2.11%	17,773	16.35%	108,682
Santa Cruz	4,235	30.44%	9,486	68.19%	190	1.37%	-5,251	-37.75%	13,911
Yavapai	64,468	64.04%	33,918	33.69%	2,281	2.27%	30,550	30.35%	100,667
Yuma	23,352	55.50%	18,059	42.92%	662	1.57%	5,293	12.58%	42,073
Totals	1,233,654	53.48%	1,025,232	44.45%	47,673	2.07%	208,422	9.03%	2,306,559

Results by congressional districts

Romney won 6 of 9 districts, including two that elected Democrats. ^[23]

District	Obama	Romney	Representative
1st	47.89%	50.42%	Ann Kirkpatrick
2nd	48.37%	49.94%	Ron Barber
3rd	61.44%	36.94%	Raúl Grijalva
4th	31.02%	67.19%	Paul Gosar
5th	34.56%	63.76%	Matt Salmon
6th	38.82%	59.52%	David Schweikert
7th	71.7%	26.51%	Ed Pastor
8th	36.87%	61.68%	Trent Franks
9th	51.12%	46.59%	Kyrsten Sinema

See also

• 2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Arizona Republican Party

References

1. Burns, Alexander (September 12, 2011). "Arizona flouts rules, keeps February primary". The Politico. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
2. "John McCain Endorses Romney | Fox News". Fox News. January 4, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
3. "Jan Brewer Endorses Romney". The Huffington Post. February 26, 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
4. "Project White House 2012 Feature, Tucson Weekly". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
5. "Project White House 2012, Tucson Weekly". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
6. "Illegal Knowledge TV Episode 401, Access Tucson". Access Tucson. Retrieved March 5, 2012.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
7. "IKTV401 Let's Get On TV 2012 Illegal Knowledge's Arizona Presidential Preference Election Debate Special" . Retrieved March 5, 2012.
8. "Project White House Debate 2012, Access Tucson". Access Tucson. Retrieved March 5, 2012.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
9. "Project White House Debate 2012" . Retrieved March 5, 2012.
10. "Dave Maass, Project White House Debates!". Dave Maass. Archived from the original on January 28, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
11. "Announcing First Arizona Presidential Preference Election Debate in 2012 (press release)". Michael Oatman, Host / Producer Illegal Knowledge TV. February 15, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
12. "CNN Observations: CNN Arizona GOP Presidential Debate Airs Tonight".
13. "GOP Candidates to Appear for Final Debate before Super Tuesday - Ratings | TVbytheNumbers". Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
14. "February 28, 2012 Election Results". Ken Bennett, Arizona Secretary of State. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
15. "Project White House 2012".
16. Bennett, Ken. "2012 Presidential Preference Election - Ballot Order". Arizona Secretary of State. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
17. https://news.yahoo.com/23-official-candidates-arizona-primary-ballot-other-significant-001800979.html ^{[ dead link ]}
18. "Iowa Caucuses & New Hampshire Primary Guide" (PDF). NBC News. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2012. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
19. "State of Arizona Registration Report" (PDF). Arizona Secretary of State. February 29, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 13, 2012. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
20. "AZ - Election Results". Archived from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
21. Arizona Daily Star: 3 of 29 AZ delegates break ranks, vote for Ron Paul. August 29, 2012.
22. "Arizona Secretary of State". Arizona Secretary of State.
23. "Daily Kos Elections' statewide election results by congressional and legislative districts". Daily Kos. Retrieved August 11, 2020.

External links

• "Arizona Elections: Dates & Deadlines". MyTimeToVote.com.
• The Green Papers: for Arizona
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order.