2012 United States presidential election in Louisiana

The 2012 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 General Election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Louisiana voters chose 8 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.

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

2012 United States presidential election in Louisiana

November 6, 2012

Nominee Mitt Romney Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Massachusetts Illinois Running mate Paul Ryan Joe Biden Electoral vote 8 0 Popular vote 1,152,262 809,141 Percentage 57.78% 40.58%

Parish Results Romney   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Obama   50-60%   60-70%   80-90%

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Romney carried Louisiana's eight electoral votes with 57.78% of the popular vote.

Louisiana was 1 of 6 states where Obama did better in 2012 than in 2008.

Democratic primary

Louisiana Democratic primary, 2012

March 24, 2012 (2012-03-24)

Candidate Barack Obama John Wolfe, Jr. Home state Illinois Tennessee Delegate count 60 4 Popular vote 115,150 17,804 Percentage 76.46% 11.82%   Candidate Bob Ely Darcy Richardson Home state Illinois Florida Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 9,897 7,750 Percentage 6.57% 5.15%

Louisiana results by parish   Barack Obama   John Wolfe, Jr.

President Barack Obama received little opposition in the 2012 Democratic primaries, handily winning overall with over 88% of the vote. However, Tennessee attorney and perennial political candidate John Wolfe Jr. challenged President Obama in the primaries, and received nearly 12% of the vote. Entrepreneur Bob Ely and historian Darcy Richardson also participated, and received a little over 6% and 5% of the vote, respectively. On the date of the primary, President Obama swept nearly every parish in the state, with Wolfe winning LaSalle, Grant, and Cameron parishes. Although Wolfe qualified for four delegates, the Louisiana Democratic Party announced that they would not award the delegates to Wolfe on technical grounds.[1]

2012 Louisiana Democratic
presidential primary[2]

Candidate	Votes	%	Pledged delegates[3]
Barack Obama	115,150	76.46	60
John Wolfe, Jr.	17,804	11.82	4
Bob Ely	9,897	6.57	0
Darcy Richardson	7,750	5.15	0
Total	150,601	100%	64

Republican primary and caucuses

Louisiana Republican primary and caucuses, 2012

March 24, 2012 (2012-03-24)

Candidate Rick Santorum Mitt Romney Home state Pennsylvania Massachusetts Delegate count 10 5 Popular vote 91,321 49,758 Percentage 49.0% 26.7%   Candidate Newt Gingrich Ron Paul Home state Georgia Texas Delegate count 0 0 Popular vote 29,656 11,467 Percentage 15.9% 6.2%

Louisiana results by parish   Rick Santorum   Mitt Romney

The 2012 Louisiana Republican primary took place on Saturday, March 24, 2012. And the caucuses were held April 28.[4][5]

Louisiana has 46 delegates to the Republican National Convention. 20 are awarded based on the primary outcome, and the rest 26 are awarded by the caucuses.

Primary

The 20 delegate allocation is proportional among candidates who receive at least 25% of the statewide vote. Candidates who do not reach the 25% threshold lose the delegates they otherwise would have won, and those delegates become uncommitted then.[6]

On March 24, Rick Santorum was declared the winner of the state's primary.[7]

Official results:[8]

Louisiana Republican primary, 2012
Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Projected delegate count
			GP [9]	CNN [10]	MSNBC [11]
Rick Santorum	91,321	48.99%	10	10	10
Mitt Romney	49,758	26.69%	5	5	6
Newt Gingrich	29,656	15.91%	0	0	0
Ron Paul	11,467	6.15%	0	0	0
Buddy Roemer	2,203	1.18%	0	0	0
Rick Perry	955	0.51%	0	0	0
Michele Bachmann	622	0.33%	0	0	0
Jon Huntsman, Jr.	242	0.13%	0	0	0
Randy Crow	186	0.10%	0	0	0
Unprojected delegates:			5	5	4
Total:	186,410	100.00%	20	20	20

Caucuses, delegate dispute, and ultimate agreement

Although Ron Paul won just 6% of the vote in the primary on March 24 (in which almost 190,000 voters cast ballots), he carried four of Louisiana's six congressional districts in the congressional district caucuses held the following month (in which fewer than 10,000 people took part).[12]

Paul's showing in the April district causes "guaranteed him 12 of the state's 46 national convention delegates and, as important, gave his forces 111 of the 180 delegates to the state convention," which chose the actual delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida.[13][12]

In advance of the June 2 Louisiana State Republican Convention in Shreveport, pro-Paul delegates and others clashed with officials and loyalists of the state Republican Party, which "issued supplemental rules on the eve of the convention to keep the Paul forces from wresting more than the 17 delegates which, in their view, was their due."[12] The convention itself was described as a "riotous" and chaotic scene, as the police removed two Paul supporters, arresting one, and the convention devolved into two separate conventions, "as the Paul delegates turned their chairs around and conducted their convention facing one way, while the state party and its loyalists conducted their parallel convention facing the other."[12]

The split convention resulted in two rival slates of 46 delegates.[12][14] The national Republican Party accepted the slate submitted by Louisiana Republican Party chairman Roger Villere as the official slate.[14] In late July, however, Paul's campaign announced that it would challenge all the Louisiana delegates, asserting that "our rump convention is the legitimate delegation and they have a right to be seated at the Republican National Convention."[15] In its official challenge to the delegate slate filed in August, Paul's campaign likened Villere to the leader of "a North Korean politburo"; in response, the executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party said that Paul's challenge was "full of personal attacks, hyperbole and unfounded assumption."[16] The dispute was to be adjudicated by the Contest Committee of the national Republican Party, with a possible appeal to the full Republican National Committee and then to the Credential Committee of the convention.[12] However, in late August—one week prior to the convention—the Paul campaign made an agreement with the Republican Party of Louisiana in which Paul would get 17 of the state's 46 delegates, with the rest of the state's delegates supporting then-presumptive nominee Mitt Romney.[17]

General Election

Results

United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2012[18]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Mitt Romney	Paul Ryan	1,152,262	57.78%	8
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	809,141	40.58%	0
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	18,157	0.91%	0
	Green	Jill Stein	Cheri Honkala	6,978	0.35%	0
	Constitution	Virgil Goode	Jim Clymer	2,508	0.13%	0
	Others			1,766	0.09%	0
	Justice	Rocky Anderson	Luis J. Rodriguez	1,368	0.07%	0
	Socialism and Liberation	Peta Lindsay	Yari Osorio	622	0.03%	0
	Prohibition Party	Jack Fellure	Toby Davis	519	0.03%	0
	Socialist Workers	James Harris	Alyson Kennedy	389	0.02%	0
	Socialist Equality	Jerry White	Phyllis Scherrer	355	0.02%	0
Totals				1,994,065	100.00%	8
Voter turnout (registered voters)						67.26%

By parish

Parish	Romney%	Romney#	Obama%	Obama#	Others%	Others#	Totals
Acadia	74.27%	19,931	24.45%	6,560	1.28%	344	26,835
Allen	69.79%	6,495	28.12%	2,617	2.10%	195	9,307
Ascension	66.29%	33,856	32.01%	16,349	1.70%	868	51,073
Assumption	55.34%	6,082	43.25%	4,754	1.41%	155	10,991
Avoyelles	62.64%	10,668	35.68%	6,077	1.67%	285	17,030
Beauregard	78.12%	11,112	19.88%	2,828	2.00%	285	14,225
Bienville	50.55%	3,641	48.45%	3,490	1.00%	72	7,203
Bossier	72.05%	34,988	26.68%	12,956	1.27%	618	48,562
Caddo	46.97%	52,378	51.90%	57,879	1.13%	1,259	111,516
Calcasieu	63.44%	51,850	34.70%	28,359	1.86%	1,517	81,726
Caldwell	77.18%	3,640	21.54%	1,016	1.27%	60	4,716
Cameron	87.07%	3,260	10.90%	408	2.03%	76	3,744
Catahoula	65.44%	2,744	33.58%	1,408	0.98%	41	4,193
Claiborne	54.20%	3,649	44.77%	3,014	1.02%	69	6,732
Concordia	58.10%	5,450	40.86%	3,833	1.03%	97	9,380
De Soto	56.34%	7,353	42.55%	5,553	1.11%	145	13,051
East Baton Rouge	46.57%	92,292	51.80%	102,656	1.63%	3,223	198,171
East Carroll	37.62%	1,508	61.83%	2,478	0.55%	22	4,008
East Feliciana	52.87%	5,397	45.53%	4,648	1.61%	164	10,209
Evangeline	64.55%	10,176	33.81%	5,330	1.64%	259	15,765
Franklin	67.42%	6,294	31.29%	2,921	1.30%	121	9,336
Grant	81.72%	7,082	16.40%	1,421	1.88%	163	8,666
Iberia	62.56%	20,892	36.33%	12,132	1.12%	373	33,397
Iberville	42.74%	7,271	56.12%	9,548	1.15%	195	17,014
Jackson	68.16%	5,132	30.61%	2,305	1.22%	92	7,529
Jefferson	58.15%	102,536	39.91%	70,384	1.94%	3,423	176,343
Jefferson Davis	72.91%	10,014	25.37%	3,484	1.72%	236	13,734
Lafayette	65.89%	64,992	32.21%	31,768	1.91%	1,882	98,642
Lafourche	73.17%	28,592	24.63%	9,623	2.20%	860	39,075
LaSalle	87.13%	5,726	11.63%	764	1.25%	82	6,572
Lincoln	56.54%	10,739	41.89%	7,956	1.57%	298	18,993
Livingston	84.19%	45,513	13.78%	7,451	2.03%	1,098	54,062
Madison	38.56%	2,000	60.81%	3,154	0.64%	33	5,187
Morehouse	52.26%	6,591	46.67%	5,887	1.07%	135	12,613
Natchitoches	52.60%	9,077	46.02%	7,942	1.38%	239	17,258
Orleans	17.79%	27,967	80.26%	126,199	1.95%	3,067	157,233
Ouachita	59.80%	40,948	38.91%	26,645	1.29%	881	68,474
Plaquemines	63.20%	6,469	35.14%	3,597	1.65%	169	10,235
Pointe Coupee	53.91%	6,548	44.75%	5,436	1.34%	163	12,147
Rapides	64.10%	37,193	34.55%	20,045	1.35%	781	58,019
Red River	51.65%	2,483	46.87%	2,253	1.48%	71	4,807
Richland	62.66%	5,846	36.31%	3,387	1.03%	96	9,329
Sabine	76.97%	7,738	21.82%	2,194	1.20%	121	10,053
St. Bernard	60.94%	8,497	36.23%	5,052	2.83%	395	13,944
St. Charles	62.91%	15,937	35.12%	8,896	1.97%	500	25,333
St. Helena	39.55%	2,529	59.12%	3,780	1.33%	85	6,394
St. James	42.03%	5,209	56.95%	7,059	1.02%	127	12,395
St. John	36.08%	7,620	62.39%	13,178	1.53%	324	21,122
St. Landry	51.56%	21,475	47.23%	19,668	1.21%	504	41,647
St. Martin	61.55%	15,653	37.05%	9,422	1.41%	358	25,433
St. Mary	58.74%	13,885	39.97%	9,450	1.29%	305	23,640
St. Tammany	75.04%	84,723	22.79%	25,728	2.17%	2,451	112,902
Tangipahoa	63.05%	31,583	35.38%	17,720	1.57%	787	50,090
Tensas	43.74%	1,230	55.62%	1,564	0.64%	18	2,812
Terrebonne	69.68%	29,503	28.52%	12,074	1.80%	764	42,341
Union	70.23%	7,561	28.56%	3,075	1.21%	130	10,766
Vermilion	75.68%	18,910	22.89%	5,720	1.43%	357	24,987
Vernon	77.83%	12,150	20.33%	3,173	1.84%	287	15,610
Washington	63.49%	11,798	34.80%	6,466	1.71%	317	18,581
Webster	61.90%	11,400	36.94%	6,802	1.16%	214	18,416
West Baton Rouge	54.19%	6,922	44.56%	5,692	1.25%	160	12,774
West Carroll	79.77%	3,628	18.76%	853	1.47%	67	4,548
West Feliciana	56.38%	3,257	42.25%	2,441	1.37%	79	5,777
Winn	69.49%	4,539	29.38%	1,919	1.13%	74	6,532

See also

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

References

1. "Louisiana Democratic Party denies 3 delegates to fringe candidate". NOLA.com. Retrieved 2017-01-16.
2. "Louisiana Secretary of State - Election Results". voterportal.sos.la.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
3. "Louisiana Democratic Delegation 2012". www.thegreenpapers.com. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
4. "Primary and Caucus Printable Calendar". CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
5. "Presidential Primary Dates" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
6. Nate Silver (March 24, 2012). "G.O.P. Campaign Could End Soon — But Not in Louisiana". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
7. Rick Santorum wins Louisiana primary
8. "Unofficial Election Results". LA Secretary of State. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
9. The Green Papers, "2012 Louisiana Republican Primary" . The Green Papers.
10. CNN, "Republican Primary" . CNN.
11. MSNBC, "Republican Primary" . MSNBC.
12. Jonathan Tilove, Louisiana Republican convention devolves into separate meetings, The Times-Picayune (June 10, 2012).
13. Tilove, Jonathan (April 28, 2012). "Ron Paul supporters dominate Louisiana's Republican presidential caucuses". The Times-Picayune.
14. Melina Deslatte, Dispute over La. delegates to GOP convention goes national, Associated Press (August 1, 2012).
15. Adam Levy, Ron Paul campaign to challenge all Louisiana delegates, CNN (July 27, 2012).
16. Jonathan Tilove Ron Paul supporters won't back down in Louisiana GOP dispute, The Times-Picayune (August 6, 2012).
17. Stephen Ohlemacher, Paul adds delegates in Louisiana compromise, Associated Press (August, 21 2012).
18. "Louisiana Secretary of State". Louisiana Secretary of State.

External links

• The Green Papers: for Louisiana
• The Green Papers: Major state elections in chronological order