2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

The 2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania 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. Pennsylvania voters chose 20 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote. This is a reduction from its 2008 delegation, which had 21 electors; the change was due to reapportionment following the 2010 United States Census.[1] Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes are allotted on a winner-take-all basis.[2]

Main article: 2012 United States presidential election

2012 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania

November 6, 2012

Nominee Barack Obama Mitt Romney Party Democratic Republican Home state Illinois Massachusetts Running mate Joe Biden Paul Ryan Electoral vote 20 0 Popular vote 2,990,274 2,680,434 Percentage 51.97% 46.59%

County Results Obama   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   80-90% Romney   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%

President before election Barack Obama Democratic Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

Democratic incumbent President Barack Obama received 52.0% of the vote, versus 46.6% for Republican challenger Mitt Romney.[3] Also on the ballot were Jill Stein (of the Green Party) and Gary Johnson (of the Libertarian Party), who received 0.4% and 0.9%, respectively.[3] Other candidates could run as write-in candidates. The state had been considered likely, but not certain, to go to Obama.[4]

The primary election to select the Democratic and Republican candidates had been held previously, on April 24, 2012.[5] This was the sixth presidential election in a row where the Democratic candidate won Pennsylvania's electoral votes; the state would vote Republican in the following presidential election.

Democratic primary

Incumbent Barack Obama ran unopposed on the Democratic primary ballot.[5] He received 616,102 votes.[5] There were 19,082 write-in votes.[6][7] In the floor vote taken at the Democratic National Convention, 242 Pennsylvania delegates voted for Obama.[7] The other 8 of the state's 250 allocated votes were not announced.[7]

Republican primary

Four candidates were on the Republican primary ballot: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich.[5] The primary was to be the make-or-break moment for Santorum.[8] Santorum had just lost 3 primaries to Romney, and Romney appeared poised to become the presumptive nominee by achieving a prohibitive lead.[8]

As momentum in the Republican race built for Romney, Santorum suspended his campaign for four days to meet with 'movement conservatives' to strategize.[9] Former Family Research Council chief Gary Bauer, who was present at the sit-down with Santorum, called it a 'strategy meeting to discuss how Senator Santorum prevails.'[10] But rather than returning to campaigning the next Monday, Rick and Karen Santorum canceled campaign events scheduled right after Easter weekend to be in the hospital with their youngest daughter.[11]

In deference to the sick child, Romney ceased airing attack ads, replacing them with positive introductory ones.

On April 10, Santorum formally suspended his campaign. On May 7, he endorsed Romney.[12] Santorum and Gingrich both released their delegates to Romney in August, shortly before the Republican National Convention.[13]

Candidate	Votes[5]	Percentage	Projected delegates[14]	Actual delegate vote[15]
Mitt Romney	468,374	57.8%	31	67
Rick Santorum	149,056	18.4%	4	0
Ron Paul	106,148	13.1%	5	5
Newt Gingrich	84,537	10.4%	3	0
Write-in votes[6]	2,819	0.3%
Unprojected delegates			29
Total:	810,934	100%	72	72

General election

In statewide opinion polling, incumbent Barack Obama consistently led challenger Mitt Romney by a margin of between 2 and 12 percentage points.[16] Analysts rated Pennsylvania as a "likely Democratic" or "Democratic-leaning" state in the presidential race.[4] On the morning of the election, polling aggregator FiveThirtyEight estimated that there was a 99% likelihood that Obama would win Pennsylvania's electoral votes.[17] At the time, Pennsylvania's electoral votes had gone to the Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1992.[2]

During the summer, there was significant spending on political advertisements in Pennsylvania, by both the Obama campaign and pro-Romney groups such as Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity.[18] However, because Obama maintained a consistent lead in polling, Pennsylvania came to be considered a "safe state" for Obama, and campaign advertising subsided substantially in August.[18] This changed in October, when pro-Romney groups Restore Our Future and Americans for Job Security spent $3 million on advertising in Pennsylvania.[18] Later that month, the Obama campaign and the Romney campaign both launched their own advertising campaigns in Pennsylvania.[18] On November 1, the Republican National Committee announced that it would spend $3 million on television ads in Pennsylvania in the final days of the campaign.[19] In total, pro-Romney spending in Pennsylvania is estimated to amount to as much as $12 million, much more than Obama campaign spending.[19] The Obama campaign characterized the pro-Romney spending surge as "an act of sheer desperation", while the Romney campaign argued that they had a realistic chance of winning the state.[19]

2012 U.S. presidential election in Pennsylvania[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barack Obama	2,990,274	51.97
	Republican	Mitt Romney	2,680,434	46.59
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson	49,991	0.87
	Green	Jill Stein	21,341	0.37
	Other	Other	11,630	0.20
Total votes			5,753,670	100.0

By county

County[20]	Barack Hussein Obama Democratic		Willard Mitt Romney Republican		Gary Earl Johnson Libertarian		Jill Ellen Stein Green		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	15,091	35.54%	26,767	63.04%	437	1.03%	162	0.38%	-11,676	-27.50%	42,457
Allegheny	352,687	56.69%	262,039	42.12%	5,196	0.84%	2,159	0.35%	90,648	14.57%	622,081
Armstrong	9,045	30.56%	20,142	68.04%	297	1.00%	118	0.40%	-11,097	-37.49%	29,602
Beaver	37,055	46.05%	42,344	52.62%	794	0.99%	281	0.35%	-5,289	-6.57%	80,474
Bedford	4,788	22.07%	16,702	76.98%	143	0.66%	64	0.29%	-11,914	-54.91%	21,697
Berks	83,011	48.74%	84,702	49.73%	1,832	1.08%	775	0.46%	-1,691	-0.99%	170,320
Blair	16,276	32.40%	33,319	66.32%	464	0.92%	182	0.36%	-17,043	-33.92%	50,241
Bradford	8,624	36.81%	14,410	61.51%	243	1.04%	149	0.64%	-5,786	-24.70%	23,426
Bucks	160,521	50.00%	156,579	48.78%	2,863	0.89%	1,053	0.33%	3,942	1.23%	321,016
Butler	28,550	31.92%	59,761	66.81%	819	0.92%	315	0.35%	-31,211	-34.89%	89,445
Cambria	24,249	40.06%	35,163	58.10%	712	1.18%	402	0.66%	-10,914	-18.03%	60,526
Cameron	724	34.30%	1,359	64.38%	19	0.90%	9	0.43%	-635	-30.08%	2,111
Carbon	11,580	45.27%	13,504	52.79%	356	1.39%	141	0.55%	-1,924	-7.52%	25,581
Centre	34,176	49.09%	34,001	48.83%	1,049	1.51%	400	0.57%	175	0.25%	69,626
Chester	124,311	49.34%	124,840	49.54%	2,082	0.83%	740	0.29%	-529	-0.21%	251,973
Clarion	5,056	31.24%	10,828	66.90%	208	1.29%	94	0.58%	-5,772	-35.66%	16,186
Clearfield	11,121	34.79%	20,347	63.65%	339	1.06%	160	0.50%	-9,226	-28.86%	31,967
Clinton	5,734	43.23%	7,303	55.05%	171	1.29%	57	0.43%	-1,569	-11.83%	13,265
Columbia	10,937	42.68%	14,236	55.56%	324	1.26%	126	0.49%	-3,299	-12.88%	25,623
Crawford	13,883	39.23%	20,901	59.06%	436	1.23%	168	0.47%	-7,018	-19.83%	35,388
Cumberland	44,367	40.04%	64,809	58.48%	1,191	1.07%	447	0.40%	-20,442	-18.45%	110,814
Dauphin	64,965	52.39%	57,450	46.33%	1,128	0.91%	465	0.37%	7,515	6.06%	124,008
Delaware	171,792	60.16%	110,853	38.82%	2,002	0.70%	917	0.32%	60,939	21.34%	285,564
Elk	5,463	41.27%	7,579	57.25%	117	0.88%	79	0.60%	-2,116	-15.98%	13,238
Erie	68,036	57.36%	49,025	41.33%	1,087	0.92%	471	0.40%	19,011	16.03%	118,619
Fayette	21,971	45.30%	26,018	53.64%	365	0.75%	151	0.31%	-4,047	-8.34%	48,505
Forest	896	38.75%	1,383	59.82%	23	0.99%	10	0.43%	-487	-21.06%	2,312
Franklin	18,995	30.11%	43,260	68.58%	571	0.91%	252	0.40%	-24,265	-38.47%	63,078
Fulton	1,310	21.15%	4,814	77.71%	50	0.81%	21	0.34%	-3,504	-56.56%	6,195
Greene	5,852	40.46%	8,428	58.27%	116	0.80%	68	0.47%	-2,576	-17.81%	14,464
Huntingdon	5,409	30.67%	11,979	67.91%	135	0.77%	116	0.66%	-6,570	-37.25%	17,639
Indiana	14,473	39.85%	21,257	58.53%	385	1.06%	206	0.57%	-6,784	-18.68%	36,321
Jefferson	4,787	26.45%	13,048	72.10%	173	0.96%	89	0.49%	-8,261	-45.65%	18,097
Juniata	2,547	26.71%	6,862	71.97%	83	0.87%	43	0.45%	-4,315	-45.25%	9,535
Lackawanna	61,838	63.09%	35,085	35.80%	743	0.76%	349	0.36%	26,753	27.29%	98,015
Lancaster	88,481	39.78%	130,669	58.74%	2,527	1.14%	759	0.34%	-42,188	-18.97%	222,436
Lawrence	17,513	44.86%	21,047	53.92%	334	0.86%	142	0.36%	-3,534	-9.05%	39,036
Lebanon	19,900	35.17%	35,872	63.40%	589	1.04%	219	0.39%	-15,972	-28.23%	56,580
Lehigh	78,283	53.25%	66,874	45.49%	1,331	0.91%	514	0.35%	11,409	7.76%	147,002
Luzerne	64,307	51.68%	58,325	46.87%	1,261	1.01%	546	0.44%	5,982	4.81%	124,439
Lycoming	15,203	32.70%	30,658	65.94%	409	0.88%	223	0.48%	-15,455	-33.24%	46,493
Mckean	5,297	35.06%	9,545	63.18%	178	1.18%	88	0.58%	-4,248	-28.12%	15,108
Mercer	24,232	47.64%	25,925	50.97%	487	0.96%	219	0.43%	-1,693	-3.33%	50,863
Mifflin	4,273	26.10%	11,939	72.93%	107	0.65%	52	0.32%	-7,666	-46.83%	16,371
Monroe	35,221	55.98%	26,867	42.70%	596	0.95%	233	0.37%	8,354	13.28%	62,917
Montgomery	233,356	56.61%	174,381	42.30%	3,253	0.79%	1,210	0.29%	58,975	14.31%	412,200
Montour	3,053	38.99%	4,652	59.40%	96	1.23%	30	0.38%	-1,599	-20.42%	7,831
Northampton	67,606	51.71%	61,446	47.00%	1,188	0.91%	495	0.38%	6,160	4.71%	130,735
Northumberland	13,072	39.36%	19,518	58.77%	422	1.27%	200	0.60%	-6,446	-19.41%	33,212
Perry	5,685	29.72%	13,120	68.59%	238	1.24%	85	0.44%	-7,435	-38.87%	19,128
Philadelphia	588,806	85.29%	96,467	13.97%	2,892	0.42%	2,162	0.31%	492,339	71.32%	690,327
Pike	10,210	43.86%	12,786	54.93%	194	0.83%	89	0.38%	-2,576	-11.07%	23,279
Potter	1,897	26.19%	5,231	72.23%	78	1.08%	36	0.50%	-3,334	-46.04%	7,242
Schuylkill	24,546	42.52%	32,278	55.91%	617	1.07%	286	0.50%	-7,732	-13.39%	57,727
Snyder	4,687	31.24%	10,073	67.14%	180	1.20%	62	0.41%	-5,386	-35.90%	15,002
Somerset	9,436	27.80%	23,984	70.66%	334	0.98%	188	0.55%	-14,548	-42.86%	33,942
Sullivan	1,034	35.06%	1,868	63.34%	30	1.02%	17	0.58%	-834	-28.28%	2,949
Susquehanna	6,935	38.43%	10,800	59.85%	202	1.12%	107	0.59%	-3,865	-21.42%	18,044
Tioga	5,357	31.50%	11,342	66.70%	195	1.15%	110	0.65%	-5,985	-35.20%	17,004
Union	6,109	37.55%	9,896	60.83%	184	1.13%	79	0.49%	-3,787	-23.28%	16,268
Venango	7,945	35.84%	13,815	62.32%	299	1.35%	108	0.49%	-5,870	-26.48%	22,167
Warren	6,995	40.44%	10,010	57.86%	205	1.19%	89	0.51%	-3,015	-17.43%	17,299
Washington	40,345	42.58%	53,230	56.18%	854	0.90%	321	0.34%	-12,885	-13.60%	94,750
Wayne	8,396	38.86%	12,896	59.68%	195	0.90%	120	0.56%	-4,500	-20.83%	21,607
Westmoreland	63,722	37.58%	103,932	61.29%	1,426	0.84%	492	0.29%	-40,210	-23.71%	169,572
Wyoming	5,061	42.63%	6,587	55.48%	152	1.28%	72	0.61%	-1,526	-12.85%	11,872
York	73,191	38.68%	113,304	59.88%	1,985	1.05%	749	0.40%	-40,113	-21.20%	189,229
Totals	2,990,274	52.08%	2,680,434	46.68%	49,991	0.87%	21,341	0.37%	309,840	5.40%	5,742,040

By congressional district

Romney won 13 of Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts.

District	Romney	Obama	Representative
1st	16.89%	82.26%	Bob Brady
2nd	8.95%	90.41%	Chaka Fattah
3rd	55.60%	43.05%	Mike Kelly
4th	57.07%	41.51%	Jason Altmire
			Scott Perry
5th	56.95%	41.35%	Glenn Thompson
6th	50.57%	48.12%	Jim Gerlach
7th	50.36%	48.53%	Pat Meehan
8th	49.42%	49.35%	Mike Fitzpatrick
9th	62.82%	35.87%	Bill Shuster
10th	60.11%	38.46%	Tom Marino
11th	53.90%	44.57%	Lou Barletta
12th	57.81%	40.94%	Mark Critz
			Keith Rothfus
13th	32.91%	66.17	Allyson Schwartz
14th	30.64%	67.99%	Mike Doyle
15th	50.78%	47.87%	Charlie Dent
16th	52.35%	46.25%	Joe Pitts
17th	43.26%	55.38%	Tim Holden
			Matt Cartwright
18th	57.95%	40.99%	Tim Murphy

Electoral College Delegation

In accordance with Commonwealth law and Chapter 1, Section 7 of Title 3, United States Code (62 Stat. 672 as amended,) the 20 Pennsylvania electors pledged for Obama and Biden cast their votes on 17 December in the State House of Representatives chamber. The Pennsylvania Democratic Committee seated the following electors for this procedure:[21]

• Mark L. Alderman
• Cindy M. Bass
• Richard Bloomingdale
• C. Kim Bracey
• James R. Burn Jr
• Jay Costa
• Frank Dermody
• Rich Fitzgerald
• Penny Gerber
• Amanda Green Hawkins
• Vincent Hughes
• Susan Golden Jacobson
• Clifford B. Levine
• Robert M. McCord
• Michael Nutter
• Lazar M. Palnick
• Roxanne G. Pauline
• José Rosado
• Cynthia D. Shapira
• Josh Shapiro

See also

• Republican Party presidential debates, 2012
• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012
• Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• Pennsylvania Republican Party

References

1. O'Neill, Brian (October 16, 2011). "Don't let Pa. flunk out of the Electoral College". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. A-2.
2. McNulty, Timothy (September 8, 2012). "Romney campaign not expected to invest much in Pa". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. A-1.
3. "2012 General Primary". Pennsylvania Department of State. 2012. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
4. Electoral-vote.com labeled Pennsylvania "likely Democratic". Tanenbaum, Andrew S. "Electoral-vote.com". Retrieved October 17, 2012.
   The Washington Post labeled Pennsylvania "lean Democratic". "2012 Election Map: The race for the presidency". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
   CNN labeled Pennsylvania "leaning Obama". Dengo, Sophia; Perry, Bryan; Hayes, John; John, Joel; Slaton, A.D. "CNN Electoral Map". CNN Politics. CNN. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
   The Cook Political Report labeled Pennsylvania "lean Democratic". "Presidential: Maps". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
5. "2012 General Primary". Pennsylvania Department of State. 2012. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
6. "2012 General Primary Write-in Totals" (PDF). Pennsylvania Department of State. 2012. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 18, 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
7. "2012 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: Pennsylvania Democrat". The Green Papers. 2012. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
8. Fitzgerald, Thomas; Worden, Amy (April 6, 2012). "Santorum meets with conservatives as Romney, in Pa., looks to the fall". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. A1.
9. "Santorum Taking Four-Day Break from Campaign Trail". Fox Television Stations, Inc. 4 April 2012.
10. "SANTORUM MEETS WITH 'MOVEMENT CONSERVATIVES' TO GO BIG, BEFORE GOING HOME". The Blaze, LLC. 5 April 2012. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 10 April 2012.
11. "Santorum Cancels Monday Events to Be With Ill Child". The Wall Street Journal. 7 April 2012.
12. Walshe, Shushannah (May 7, 2012). "Rick Santorum Formally Endorses Mitt Romney". The Note. ABC News. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
13. Camia, Catalina (August 24, 2012). "Santorum releases GOP convention delegates". USA Today. Retrieved October 24, 2012.
14. "Primaries & Caucuses: Results: Pennsylvania". CNN Politics. CNN. July 30, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
15. When Pennsylvania delegation chair Tom Corbett announced the Pennsylvania delegates' votes on the convention floor, he said that sixty-seven delegates had voted for Romney and five had voted for Paul Ryan. However, since Ryan was not a candidate (rather, he was Romney's running mate), it is generally assumed that Corbett misspoke—that the five votes were actually for Ron Paul.
    • "2012 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: Republican Convention". The Green Papers. 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
    • Brown, Catherine (August 29, 2012). "NJ Puts Romney Over the Top". NBC10 Philadelphia. Retrieved October 20, 2012. Later, as the roll call continued, the Pennsylvania delegation led by Gov. Tom Corbett (R), cast 67 of its delegate votes for Romney, the rest went to Ron Paul, although Corbett may have actually said 'Paul Ryan,' in a possible slip of the tongue.
    • Doherty, Brian (August 29, 2012). "Ron Paul's Followers and the GOP: Where To From Here, and How?". Reason. Retrieved October 20, 2012. In the end, Paul got around 190 delegates votes (if we presume Pennsylvania's five for 'Paul Ryan' were actually meant for Ron Paul).
16. "Pennsylvania: Romney vs. Obama". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved October 17, 2012.
17. Silver, Nate. "FiveThirtyEight". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
18. Levy, Marc (October 30, 2012). "Romney, Obama campaigns resume Pa. ad campaigns". Philly.com. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
19. Levy, Marc (November 1, 2012). "Romney, RNC splashing down in Pa. in 11th-hour bid". Deseret News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
20. "Pennsylvania Elections – County Breakdown Results". electionreturns.pa.gov. November 6, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2019.
21. "Electoral College". Pennsylvania Department of State. Retrieved 14 June 2013.

External links

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