United States presidential election in Louisiana, 2012
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The 2012 United States presidential election in Louisiana took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the
2012 United States presidential election The 2012 United States presidential election was the 57th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, were re-e ...
in which all 50 states plus the
District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
participated. Louisiana voters chose eight electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting
incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...
Democratic
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
and his running mate,
Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
Joe Biden, against
Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
challenger and former
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Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Romney carried Louisiana's eight electoral votes with 57.78% of the popular vote. Louisiana was one of six states where Obama did better in 2012 than in 2008, with his margin of loss decreasing from 18.63% to 17.2%. As of
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
, this remains the last time that a Democrat has won even 40% of the vote in the state. Obama is the only Democrat to ever win two terms without carrying the state at least once.


Primaries


Democratic

President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
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.


Republican

The 2012 Louisiana Republican primary took place on Saturday, March 24, 2012. And the caucuses were held April 28. Louisiana had 46 delegates to the Republican National Convention. 20 were awarded based on the primary outcome, and the other 26 by the caucuses.


Primary

The 20 delegate allocation was proportional among candidates who received at least 25% of the statewide vote. Candidates who did not reach the 25% threshold lost the delegates they otherwise would have won, and those delegates became uncommitted then. On March 24,
Rick Santorum Richard John Santorum ( ; born May 10, 1958) is an American politician, attorney, and political commentator. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2007 and was the Senate's third ...
was declared the winner of the state's primary.


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 district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...
s in the congressional district caucuses held the following month (in which fewer than 10,000 people took part).Jonathan Tilove
Louisiana Republican convention devolves into separate meetings
''
The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of ...
'' (June 10, 2012).
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 The 2012 Republican National Convention was a gathering held by the Republican Party (United States), U.S. Republican Party during which Delegate (American politics), delegates officially nominated former List of governors of Massachusetts, Ma ...
in
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. 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." 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." The split convention resulted in two rival slates of 46 delegates.Melina Deslatte
Dispute over La. delegates to GOP convention goes national
Associated Press (August 1, 2012).
The national Republican Party accepted the slate submitted by Louisiana Republican Party chairman Roger Villere as the official slate. 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." 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."Jonathan Tilov

''
The Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of ...
'' (August 6, 2012).
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. 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.


General election


Results


By

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...


By congressional district

Romney won 5 of 6 congressional districts.


See also

* United States presidential elections in Louisiana *
2012 Republican Party presidential debates and forums A series of political debates were held prior to and during the 2012 Republican primaries, among candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in the national election of 2012. The first debate occurred on May 5, 2011, in Greenville, S ...
*
2012 Republican Party presidential primaries Voters of the Republican Party elected state delegations to the 2012 Republican National Convention in presidential primaries. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential ...
*
Results of the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries This article contains the results of the 2012 Republican presidential primaries and caucuses, which resulted in the nomination of Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for President of the United States. The 2012 Republican primaries were the s ...
* Louisiana Republican Party


Notes


References


External links


The Green Papers
for Louisiana
The Green Papers
Major state elections in chronological order {{U.S. presidential primaries
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
United States president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...