The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the 14 U.S. representatives from the state of Michigan, a decrease of one following the 2010 United States census. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held on August 7, 2012. The filing deadline for candidates to file to run in the primary was May 15. Except for two seats, all the incumbents sought re-election. The open seats were the 5th and 11th congressional districts. Due to the loss of one seat from the 2010 census, two congressmen ran against each other.
Despite Democrats winning more than 240,000 more votes for U.S. House districts statewide, Republicans won nine of 14 seats, and Michiganders tied a state record by electing the lowest rate (35 percent) of U.S. representatives by a major party while simultaneously casting its electoral votes for that party's presidential nominee. This made Michigan one of five states in which the party that won the state's popular vote did not win a majority of seats in 2012, the other states being Arizona, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The Michigan Legislature, which is controlled by the Republican Party, began the redistricting process on April 11, 2011. A plan released by the Republican Party in June 2011, which would place the homes of Democrats Gary Peters and Sander Levin into the same district, was passed by the Michigan House of Representatives and Senate later that month. The plan was signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder on August 9. The two incumbents forced to face each other were Gary Peters and Hansen Clarke.
In redistricting, the 1st district was made slightly more favorable to Republicans: Republican nominee John McCain received less than one percentage point more of the vote in the 2008 presidential election in the newly drawn district compared to the former district. Roll Call had rated the race as "Leans Republican," but changed the rating first to "Tossup" and then "Leans Democratic." Republican Dan Benishek, who was first elected to represent the 1st district in 2010, ran for re-election.
The third-party candidates were Emily Salvette as the Libertarian Party nominee and Ellis Boal as the Green Party nominee.
Republican Bill Huizenga, who was first elected to represent the 2nd district in 2010, sought re-election. He was unopposed for the Republican primary. Other third-party candidates on the ballot were Mary Buzuma for the Libertarian Party, Ronald Graeser for the U.S. Taxpayers Party, and William Opalicky for the Green Party. Roll Call rated the race as "Safe Republican", and Huizenga easily won re-election with 61.2% of the vote.
Muskegon city commissioner Willie German, Jr. ran in the August primary as a write-in candidate after David Takitaki, a political science professor at Adrian College and Muskegon Community College, was seeking the Democratic nomination to challenge Huizenga, but withdrew from the race for health reasons. Commissioner German was therefore on the ballot on the Democratic side.
Republican Justin Amash, who was first elected to represent the 3rd district in 2010, sought re-election and ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Libertarian Party candidate Bill Gelineau was also on the ballot.
In redistricting, the 3rd district was made more favorable to Democrats. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Republican."
Republican David Lee Camp, who had represented the 4th district since 1993 and previously represented the 10th district from 1991 until 1993, sought re-election. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Republican".
Democrat Dale Kildee, who had represented the 5th district since 2003, and previously represented the 9th district from 1993 until 2003 and the 7th district from 1977 until 1993, chose to retire rather than run for re-election in 2012.
Flint school board member David Davenport ran as an independent. Also running was Gregory Creswell of the Libertarian Party.
Roll Call rated the race as "Safe Democratic".
Republican Fred Upton, who had represented the 6th district since 1993 and previously represented the 4th district from 1987 until 1993, sought re-election.
Jason Gatties, a business manager and security consultant from St. Joseph, received the US Taxpayers Party of Michigan's nomination at their state convention on June 16, 2012. Christie Gelineau received the Libertarian Party's nomination at their state convention on June 2, 2012. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Republican".
In redistricting, the 7th district was made slightly more favorable to Republicans: McCain received less than one percentage point more of the vote in the 2008 presidential election in the newly drawn district compared to the former district.
Republican Tim Walberg, who had represented the 7th district since January 2011 and previously served from 2007 until 2009, ran for re-election. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Republican".
Joe Schwarz, who represented the 7th district from 2005 to 2007 as a Republican and was defeated by Walberg in the Republican primary in 2006, was recruited by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Republican Mike Rogers, who had represented the 8th district since 2001, sought re-election.
Other candidates were Daniel Goebel of the Libertarian Party and independent candidate Preston Brooks. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Republican".
In redistricting, the homes of Democratic Representatives Sander Levin and Gary Peters were drawn into the 9th district, which comprises mostly Macomb County but also includes a part of Oakland County. Levin, who had represented the 12th district since 1993 and previously represented the 17th district from 1983 until 1993, sought re-election here. Peters, who had represented the 9th district since 2009, sought re-election in the redrawn 14th district.
Jim Fulner, an engineer from Berkley, earned the Libertarian Party nomination at their state convention on June 2, 2012, in Livonia. Julia Williams, the 2010 Green Party Candidate for the same seat, was nominated again at the 2012 Michigan Green Party convention, on June 9, 2012, in Mount Pleasant. Lester Townsend received the US Taxpayers Party of Michigan's nomination at their state convention on June 16, 2012. This marks the fourth election cycle in a row in which Townsend challenged Levin for his seat. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Democratic".
Republican Candice Miller, who had represented the 10th district since 2003, sought re-election. Roll Call rated the race as "Likely Republican".
Thad McCotter had represented the old 11th district since 2003 and sought the Republican presidential nomination. After poor polling results, McCotter ended his presidential campaign and announced plans to run again for his seat in Congress. On May 26, 2012, the Michigan Secretary of State announced that McCotter had fallen well short of the required 1,000 petition signatures required for him to qualify for the primary ballot. In what state officials described as a level of fraud unprecedented in Michigan political history, subsequent reviews of McCotter's petitions revealed that over 85 percent of the signatures were invalid. Most of them were either duplicates or signatures that appeared to have been pasted from past years' petitions. Conceding that the signatures were indeed invalid, McCotter announced he would mount a write-in bid for his seat; however, he decided not to continue with his write-in bid on June 2 and announced his intention to retire after completing his term. McCotter suddenly resigned from his seat on July 6, leaving the 11th district unrepresented.
Secretary of State Ruth Johnson found the apparent fraud egregious enough to turn the evidence over to the Michigan Attorney General's office to determine if laws were broken regarding the invalid signatures. The Michigan Attorney General's office charged four McCotter aides with forgery, although McCotter was not charged with any wrongdoing.
McCotter's resignation resulted in a special election, which was expected to cost taxpayers $650,000.
As a result of Republican-leaning areas of the old 9th district being drawn into the new 11th, the 11th district was made more favorable to Republicans. McCain received four percentage points more of the vote in the 2008 presidential election in the newly drawn district compared to the current district. While Roll Call rated this race as "Likely Republican" before the primary, they changed the rating to "Leans Republican". It subsequrently changed back to "Likely Republican."
For the regular primary held August 7, 2012, for the upcoming two-year term in Congress, Kerry Bentivolio, a veteran and former teacher who had already planned to challenge McCotter, was left as the only candidate on the Republican primary ballot. The Troy Republican Club, U.S. House member Justin Amash, Tea Party groups and Ron Paul's PAC all endorsed Bentivolio. Other Republicans, including Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, refused to endorse Bentivolio and instead endorsed former state senator Nancy Cassis as a write-in candidate. Bentivolio defeated Cassis in the August 7 primary, and was the only Republican candidate on the ballot in areas covered by the new 11th. Cassis and Drexel Morton also ran as write-in candidates.
Bentivolio was endorsed by Gov. Rick Snyder, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley, Senator Rand Paul; Congress members Candice Miller, Justin Amash, Dan Banishek and Ron Paul; and former officeholders Rick Santorum and Peter Hoekstra.
Democratic candidate David Curson defeated Kerry Bentivolio in the special general election, conducted in the 2012-configured 11th district only, and coinciding with the regular general election on November 6.
Democrat John Dingell, who had represented the district since 2003 and previously from 1955 until 1965, and previously represented the 16th district from 1965 until 2003, sought re-election here. Roll Call rated the race as "Safe Democratic".
Democrat John Conyers, who had represented the 14th district since 1993 and previously represented the 1st district from 1965 until 1993, sought re-election in the new 13th district.
The Libertarian Party of Michigan nominated Chris Sharer of Westland as their candidate. Martin Gray was the U.S. Taxpayers Party candidate. Roll Call rated the race as "Safe Democratic".
The new 14th district crosses the traditional boundary of the 8 Mile Road (separating Detroit from Oakland County) in order to continue to have a majority of minority voters. A large part of the district is now outside of Detroit (it comprises approximately 40 percent Detroit, 40 percent Oakland County, and 20 percent outlying Wayne County).
Leonard Schwartz, lawyer and perennial candidate from Oak Park, who most recently challenged Sandy Levin for US House District 12 in 2010, was the Libertarian nominee. Douglas Campbell, an engineer from Ferndale, was the Green Party candidate. Roll Call rated the race as "Safe Democratic".