The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the state's four U.S. representatives. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The p ...

Primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

s were held on June 5, 2012. The new congressional map, drawn by the state's Legislative Services Agency and passed with

bipartisan Bipartisanship, sometimes referred to as nonpartisanship, is a political situation, usually in the context of a two-party system (especially those of the United States and some other western countries), in which opposing Political party, politica ...

support in the state

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

, was signed into law by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Terry Branstad Terry Edward Branstad (born November 17, 1946) is a retired American politician who served as the 39th and 42nd governor of Iowa (1983–1999; 2011–2017) and the United States ambassador to China (2017–2020). A member of the Repu ...

on April 19, 2011. Reflecting population shifts recorded in the 2010 United States census, the new map decreases Iowa's representation from five

congressional districts Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional body. Countries with congressional districts includ ...

to four.

Overview

District 1

Bruce Braley, a Democrat the incumbent representative from the 1st district in northeastern Iowa since 2007, ran in the new 1st district. Fellow incumbent Dave Loebsack, who lived within the boundaries of the new 1st district in Linn County, but who had represented southeastern Iowa's 2nd district since 2007, moved to Johnson County and ran in the new 2nd district. The 1st district has become more favorable to Democrats with the inclusion of Linn County and its loss of Scott County. Braley won the Democratic nomination unopposed.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Bruce Braley, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Declined

= * Dave Loebsack, incumbent U.S. Representative for the 2nd district

Primary results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Ben Lange, attorney and nominee for this seat in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

=Eliminated in primary

= *

Rod Blum Rodney Leland Blum (; born April 26, 1955) is an American businessman and politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for Iowa's 1st congressional district from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Republic ...

, businessman

=Withdrawn

= * Steve Rathje, businessman

Primary results

General election

Endorsements

Predictions

Results

District 2

None of Iowa's current members of Congress resided in the newly drawn 2nd district; however, Democrat Dave Loebsack moved from Linn County to Johnson County in order to avoid a primary against Bruce Braley and continue representing southeastern Iowa. The 2nd district became slightly more favorable to Republicans as a result of the inclusion of Scott County, but retains Democratic-leaning Johnson County.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Dave Loebsack, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Eliminated in primary

= * Joe Seng, state senator

Primary results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * John Archer, senior legal counsel at

John Deere Deere & Company, Trade name, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, Transmission (mechanical device), transmi ...

=Eliminated in primary

= * Dan Dolan, housing developer Withdrew * Richard Gates, machinist and Tea Party activist

Primary results

General election

Endorsements

Polling

Predictions

Results

District 3

Leonard Boswell, a Democrat who represented the 3rd district in central Iowa since 1997, and Tom Latham, a Republican who represented the 4th district in northern and central Iowa since 1995, both ran in the new 3rd district. Latham, who lived in the new 4th district, moved south to avoid facing fellow Republican

Steve King Steven Arnold King (born May 28, 1949) is an American former politician and businessman who served as a U.S. representative from Iowa from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district un ...

in a primary.

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Leonard Boswell, incumbent U.S. Representative

Primary results

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Tom Latham, incumbent U.S. Representative

Primary results

General election

Campaign

Approximately half of the new 3rd district was at the time represented by Boswell, whereas the new 3rd district contained than 20 per cent of the area currently represented by Latham. However, Latham had $983,500 cash on hand at the end of March 2011, whereas Boswell had just $173,815.

Endorsements

Debate

The first debate was held October 10, 2012 at 7 pm, sponsored by

KCCI KCCI (channel 8) is a television station in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on Ninth Street in downtown Des Moines and a KCCI Tower, transmitter in Alleman, Iowa, A ...

and the

Des Moines Register ''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. History Early period The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cab ...

.Watch tonight: Des Moines Register, KCCI host 3rd District debate

, October 10, 2012

Polling

Predictions

Results

District 4

, a Republican represented western Iowa's 5th district since 2003, ran in the new 4th district. The new 4th district comprises mostly territory which King represented and which tends to vote for Republican candidates.

Republican primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= *

, incumbent U.S. Representative

=Declined

= * Tom Latham, incumbent U.S. Representative for the 4th district

Primary results

Democratic primary

Candidates

=Nominee

= * Christie Vilsack, former First Lady of Iowa

Primary results

Independents

Martin James Monroe also ran.

General election

Endorsements

Debates

Complete video of debate
September 27, 2012
Complete video of debate
October 25, 2012

Polling

Predictions

Results

References

External links

Elections
from the Iowa Secretary of State
United States House of Representatives elections in Iowa, 2012
at

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Iowa U.S. House
from OurCampaigns.com
Campaign contributions for U.S. Congressional races in Iowa
from

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, including a revolving door database which documents the individuals who have worked in both the public sector an ...

Outside spending
at the

Sunlight Foundation The Sunlight Foundation was an American 501(c)(3) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that advocated for open government. The organization was founded in April 2006 with the goal of increasing transparency and accountability in the United States ...

{{2012 United States elections

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...