New York's 7th Congressional District elections, 2012
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November 6, 2012 |
June 26, 2012 |
Nydia Velazquez  |
Joseph Crowley |
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The 7th Congressional District of New York held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 6, 2012. Nydia Velazquez was re-elected on November 6, 2012.[1]
| Candidate Filing Deadline | Primary Election | General Election |
|---|---|---|
Primary: New York had a closed primary system, meaning only registered members of a particular party could vote in that party's primary.
Voter registration: Voters had to register to vote in the primary by June 1, 2012. For the general election, the voter registration deadline was October 12, 2012, or October 26, 2012 in person.[2]
- See also: New York elections, 2012
Incumbent: Heading into the election was incumbent Joseph Crowley (D), who was first elected to the House in 1998. Due to redistricting, Crowley ran in the new 14th District, and 12th District incumbent Nydia Velazquez ran in the 7th.
This was the first election using district maps based on data from the 2010 Census. New York's 7th Congressional District was located in the eastern portion of the state and included Kings county.[3]
Fusion voting
New York is one of eight states that have "electoral fusion" -- which allows more than one political party to support a common candidate. This creates a situation where one candidate will appear multiple times on the same ballot, for the same position. Electoral fusion was once widespread across the United States, but is now commonly practiced only in New York.
Opponents of fusion voting argue that the process results in dealmarking to ensure that patronage is rampant.[4] Proponents maintain that fusion voting allows for minor parties to actually make a difference during the election, allowing voters the opportunity to vote for a minority party platform but still affect the general election result.[5]
Candidates appearing in the general election will be listed below with colored dots corresponding to any party they will represent on the ballot.
Candidates
Note: Election results were added on election night as races were called. Vote totals were added after official election results had been certified. Click here for more information about Ballotpedia's election coverage plan. Please contact us about errors in this list.
General election candidates
June 26, 2012 primary results
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Election results
General Election
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic |  Nydia Velazquez Incumbent |
94.6% | 143,930 | |
| Conservative | James Murray | 5.2% | 7,971 | |
| K.A. | Write-in votes | 0.1% | 210 | |
| Total Votes | 152,111 | |||
| Source: New York State Board of Elections, "NYS Board of Elections Rep. in Congress Election Returns Nov. 6, 2012," accessed September 1, 2021 | ||||
Race background
Democratic primary
Due to redistricting in New York, 12th District incumbent Nydia Velazquez ran in the 7th District, which included most of District 12 and added some of the Lower East Side.[8] Velazquez faced three primary challengers: Erik Dilan, George Martinez, and Dan O'Connor.
Dilan and Velazquez were seen as the frontrunners, as reported by Capital New York. The paper also wrote that Dilan was encouraged to run by Vito Lopez, who was chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and a member of the New York Assembly.[9] “I’ve never been supportive of [Velazquez],” Lopez told the New York Times, “based on the fact that she’s not willing to sit down and have a dialogue on community issues.” Dilan stated that his decision to enter the race was due to redistricting, not by Lopez's support.[10]
When asked about Lopez's statements, Velazquez told the New York Times, "I advocate for cleaner politics, and he appoints cronies as judges." She added, "So be it. I will face the music and so will he."[11]
Capital New York reported that by June 18, 2012, Dilan had received $70,000 and Velazquez had received $1,000 from members of the New York real estate industry. The paper wrote that it was out of the ordinary for members of the real estate industry to show financial support to the incumbent's challenger in a congressional primary. It also reported that Velazquez's spokesman said the real estate industry supported Dilan because of his relationship with Lopez and because he was chair of the Buildings Committee and thus could influence the Real Estate Board of New York and the Rent Stabilization Association. Dilan's spokesman responded by saying the donations Dilan received were "roughly $930,000 less than what Velazquez took from banks."[12]
An additional issue in the race centered on the Lower East Side’s large Jewish community.[8] During the primary campaign, one of Dilan's campaign handouts said that Velazquez had "the worst voting record on Israel in the New York congressional delegation." After the campaign material was circulated, Velazquez was endorsed by three prominent Jewish Democrats: U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, and New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.[8]
Martinez was a member of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and frequently delivered his messages in rap form. He was involved with an initiative called "Bum Rush the Vote."[13]
O'Connor was an economist by training and works in the renewable energy industry.[14]
Impact of redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in New York
Following the results of the 2010 Census, New York lost two congressional seats, bringing its total number of representatives down from 29 to 27.
The newly redrawn 7th includes most of 12th District incumbent Nydia Velazquez's territory, along with a large chunk of the Lower East Side.[8]
According to a report in the Washington Post political blog "The Fix," New York was one of the top 10 redistricting battles in the nation.[15]
The 7th district was re-drawn after the 2010 Census. The new district was composed of the following percentages of voters of the old congressional districts.[16][17]
- 1 percent from the 8th Congressional District
- 6 percent from the 9th Congressional District
- 12 percent from the 10th Congressional District
- 8 percent from the 11th Congressional District
- 70 percent from the 12th Congressional District
- 2 percent from the 14th Congressional District
Registration statistics
As of October 29, 2012, District 7 had the following partisan registration breakdown according to the New York State Board of Elections:
| New York Congressional District 7[18] | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Congressional District | District Total | Democrats | Republicans | Other & Unaffiliated | Advantage | Party Advantage | Change in Advantage from 2010 |
| District 7 | 326,120 | 232,330 | 24,980 | 68,810 | Democratic | 830.06% | 299.34% |
| "Party advantage" is the percentage gap between the two major parties in registered voters. "Change in advantage" is the spread in difference of party advantage between 2010 and 2012 based on the congressional district number only. | |||||||
District partisanship
FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012 study
- See also: FairVote's Monopoly Politics 2012
In 2012, FairVote did a study on partisanship in the congressional districts, giving each a percentage ranking (D/R) based on the new 2012 maps and comparing that to the old 2010 maps. New York's 7th District became more Democratic because of redistricting.[19]
- 2012: 81D / 19R
- 2010: 83D / 17R
Cook Political Report's PVI
In 2012, Cook Political Report released its updated figures on the Partisan Voter Index, which measured each congressional district's partisanship relative to the rest of the country. New York's 7th Congressional District had a PVI of D+31, which was the 14th most Democratic district in the country. In 2008, this district was won by Barack Obama (D), 85-15 percent over John McCain (R). In 2004, John Kerry (D) won the district 80-20 percent over George W. Bush (R).[20]
District history
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2010
On November 2, 2010, Joseph Crowley was re-elected to the United States House for a seventh term. He defeated Kenneth A. Reynolds (R who also ran on the Conservative Party ticket), and Anthony Gronowicz (Green).[21]
| U.S. House, New York Congressional District 7 General Election, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Joseph Crowley Incumbent |
72.7% | 71,247 | |
| Republican | Kenneth A. Reynolds | 16.5% | 16,145 | |
| Blank/Scattering | 9.7% | 9,541 | ||
| Green | 1.1% | 1,038 | ||
| Total Votes | 97,971 | |||
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2012
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2012
- United States Senate elections in New York, 2012
Footnotes
- ↑ York ABC News, "2012 General Election Results," accessed November 6, 2012 (dead link)
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "Voting Deadline Page," accessed June 30, 2012
- ↑ New York Redistricting Map, "Map" accessed August 31, 2012
- ↑ Clarence Bee, "State Senate candidate calls for an end to fusion voting", accessed September 19, 2013
- ↑ Oregon Working Family Party, "What is Fusion Voting?", accessed September 19, 2013
- ↑ Dan O'Connor campaign website, accessed January 27, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 New York Board of Elections "List of Filings for June 26, 2012 Federal Primary," accessed May 30, 2012
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Jewish Press, "Schumer, Silver, Nadler to Endorse Velázquez, Rebuffing Anti-Zionist Charges," June 3, 2012
- ↑ Capital New York, "Obama endorses Nydia Velazquez," June 15, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "The Biggest Rival for a Congresswoman From Brooklyn Isn’t Even on the Ballot," June 20, 2012
- ↑ New York Times, "With Three Spirited Primaries, Competitive Democracy Is Breaking Out," June 18, 2012
- ↑ Capital New York, "The congressional challenger from New York real estate," June 18, 2012
- ↑ Salon, "An Occupier Eyes Congress," June 18, 2012
- ↑ Dan O'Connor campaign website, "Biography," accessed June 19, 2012
- ↑ Washington Post, "The Fix," "Redistricting battles hit a fever pitch," June 3, 2011
- ↑ Moonshadow Mobile's CensusViewer, "New York's congressional districts 2001-2011 comparison"
- ↑ Labels & Lists, "VoterMapping software voter counts"
- ↑ New York State Board of Elections, "District Active Enrollment 2012," April, 2012
- ↑ "2011 Redistricting and 2012 Elections in New York," September 2012
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Partisan Voting Index Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" accessed October 2012
- ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk, "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010," accessed March 28, 2013
