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 selection processes by which the Republican Party selected delegates to attend the 2012 Republican National Convention from August 27âÂÂ30. The series of primaries, caucuses, and state conventions culminated in the national convention, where the delegates cast their votes to formally select a candidate. A simple majority (1,144) of the total delegate votes (2,286) was required to become the party's nominee.
Seven major candidates were in the race to become the nominee. Michele Bachmann was the first to drop out, ending her campaign after a poor performance in Iowa. Jon Huntsman withdrew from the race after placing third in the New Hampshire primary. Rick Perry dropped out after Iowa and New Hampshire but prior to the South Carolina primary after polling poorly. Rick Santorum suspended his campaign in April after polls showed a strong possibility that he would lose his home state of Pennsylvania to Mitt Romney, and his daughter Bella's condition worsened. Newt Gingrich withdrew after insufficient funds prevented him from moving forward with a strong campaign. On May 14, 2012, Ron Paul announced that his campaign would switch to a delegate accumulation strategy. On May 29, according to projected counts, Mitt Romney crossed the threshold of 1,144 delegates. He was formally nominated at the Republican National Convention on August 28.
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The traditional roll call of the states, which shows final distribution of delegates for every candidate, took place on Tuesday August 28, the first full day of the Republican National Convention.
Two major candidates, who had been invited to the debates, Herman Cain and Gary Johnson, had withdrawn from the race after states began to certify candidates for ballot spots. Two serious candidates who were not invited, Buddy Roemer and Fred Karger, had a very hard time getting on primary ballots and achieved only limited success. Six candidates, L. John Davis, Randy Crow, Chris Hill, Keith Drummond, Mike Meehan, and Mark Callahan, qualified for the ballot in two primaries, while the rest, over 25 in all, were on the ballot in only one, either New Hampshire or Arizona, which both had relatively easy requirements. Some votes for minor candidates are unavailable, because in many states (territories) they can be listed as Others or Write-ins. At the conclusion of the primary season, none of these other candidates was able to be awarded any delegates.
Primary and caucuses can be binding or nonbinding in allocating delegates to the respective state delegations to the National convention. But the actual election of the delegates can be at a later date. Delegates are (1) elected at conventions, (2) from slates submitted by the candidates, (3) selected by the state chairman or (4) at committee meetings or (5) elected directly at the caucuses and primaries.<br />Until the delegates are actually elected the delegate numbers are by nature projections, but it is only in the nonbinding caucus states where they are not allocated at the primary or caucus date.
Twelve states (374 delegates) voted from January 3 to March 3. Out of 374 delegates only 172 were allocated to the candidates, 18 were unbound RNC delegates, 2 were allocated for Huntsman but were unbound, and 182 delegates were unallocated.
Nonbinding Caucus: January 3, 2012<br /> State Convention: June 16, 2012<br /> National delegates: 28
Primary date: January 10, 2012<br /> National delegates: 12<sup>#</sup>
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Primary date: January 21, 2012<br /> District conventions: April 12, 2012<br /> State convention: May 19, 2012<br /> National delegates: 25
Closed primary: January 31, 2012<br /> National delegates: 50 <br /> Note: 4,063,853 registered Republicans
Closed caucus: February 4, 2012<br /> National delegates: 28 <br /> Note: 400,310 registered Republicans
Closed caucus: February 7, 2012<br /> National delegates: 36
Open caucus: February 7, 2012<br /> National delegates: 40
Modified Primary: February 7, 2012<br /> National delegates: 52 (not tied to primary vote)
Closed caucus: February 4âÂÂ11, 2012<br /> National delegates: 24
Closed primary: February 28, 2012<br /> National delegates: 29<br /> Note: Delegate total was halved due to violation of Rule 15 of the RNC rules.
Open primary: February 28, 2012<br /> National delegates: 30
Closed caucus: February 11âÂÂ29, 2012<br /> National delegates: 29
Closed caucus: March 3, 2012<br /> National delegates: 43
Super Tuesday 2012 is the name for March 6, 2012, the day on which the largest simultaneous number of state presidential primary elections was held in the United States. It included Republican primaries in seven states and caucuses in three states, totaling 419 delegates (18.2% of the total). 18 additional RNC superdelegates from the states are not bound by the voting result.
Caucuses: March 6, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 27
Open primary: March 6, 2012<br /> National delegates: 76
Caucuses: March 6, 2012<br /> National delegates: 32
Semi-closed primary: March 6, 2012<br /> National delegates: 41
Caucuses: March 6, 2012<br /> National delegates: 28
Results prior to certification:
Semi-closed primary: March 6, 2012<br /> National delegates: 66
Primary: March 6, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 43
Primary: March 6, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 58
Primary: March 6, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 17
Primary: March 6, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 49 <br /> Note: Ballot restrictions resulted in most of the candidates failing to get on the ballot.
Binding caucus: March 10, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 40
Results prior to certification with 100% of precincts reporting:
Caucus: March 10, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 9
Caucus: March 10, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 9
Caucus: March 10, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 9
No straw poll was taken at the caucus, but the delegates were bound to the candidate they pledged themselves to before the voting started. The six delegates receiving the most votes go to the National Convention. Three of the top vote-getters had previously pledged to Romney, and one had pledged to Paul. In addition, two of the elected uncommitted delegates committed themselves to Romney after the election.
Primary: March 13, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 50
Binding caucuses: March 13, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 20
Certified results doesn't include 858 outstanding votes (write-ins and provisional ballots).
Primary: March 13, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 40 (winner-take-all if over 50%)
Caucus: March 13, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 9
Mitt Romney had the most support but there were a few votes for each of the candidates Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich. About 70 people participated but no formal vote was taken.
Primary: March 18, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 23
Primary: March 20, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 54
Primary: March 24, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 20
Primary: April 3, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 37
Rick Santorum was unable to receive full delegate support.
Primary: April 3, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 19
Rick Santorum was not on the ballot.
Primary: April 3, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 42
Primary: April 24, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 28
Official source reports a turnout of 59,639, with the difference from 59,578 likely due to blank ballots.
Primary: April 24, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 17
Primary: April 24, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 95
Primary: April 24, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 72
Primary: April 24, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 19
Caucuses: April 28, 2012<br /> National delegates: 26
Primary: May 8, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 46
Primary: May 8, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 55
Primary: May 8, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 31
Primary: May 15, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 35
Primary: May 15, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 28
Primary: May 22, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 36
Primary: May 22, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 45
Primary: May 29, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 155
Primary: June 5, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 172
Caucus: June 5, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 26
Results prior to certification:
Primary: June 5, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 50
Primary: June 5, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 23
Primary: June 5, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 28
Results prior to certification:
Primary: June 27, 2012 <br /> National delegates: 40
Results prior to certification: