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The 2012 United States presidential election in Maine took place on November 6, 2012, as part of the 2012 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Maine voters chose four electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, against Republican challenger and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and his running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Obama and Biden carried Maine with 56.27% of the popular vote to Romney's and Ryan's 40.98%, thus winning the state's four electoral votes.[1]

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election that the Democratic candidate won Maine's second congressional district along with a majority of counties in the state, as well as these counties (all of which comprise that district): Androscoggin, Aroostook, Franklin, Oxford, Penobscot, Somerset, and Washington. This is also the last election in which Maine was decided by double digits.

Caucuses

Democratic caucuses

Republican caucuses

The Republican caucuses were held between Sunday, January 29, and Saturday, March 3, at various locations throughout the state of Maine. Presidential preference polls (straw polls) were held at the caucuses, but those polls were not binding on the choices of delegates to the Maine Republican Party convention. The caucuses chose delegates in processes separate from the straw polling.

The state party encouraged all municipal committees to hold their caucuses between February 4 and February 11, although each committee was free to choose a different date.[2] The first caucus was in Waldo County on January 29[3] and the last one in Castine (Hancock County) on March 3.[4] On Saturday, February 11, after 84% of precincts had completed voting, state-party officials announced results of straw polls. The results were revised in a second declaration on February 17 to include previously missing results from several caucuses. Those statewide totals still did not include the caucuses in Washington County, which had been scheduled for February 11 but postponed to February 18 by predictions of bad weather, nor did they include caucuses originally scheduled to occur between February 16 and March 3. The state Republican Party issued a third statewide compilation on February 24, adding all the February 18 caucuses (scheduled and postponed), but not those for February 16 or March 3. All three statewide totals showed former Governor Mitt Romney leading Representative Ron Paul by small margins, with other candidates well behind.[2][5]

At the State Convention held over the weekend of May 5–6, Ron Paul won 20 out of 24 national delegates. One elected delegate, Governor Paul LePage is uncommitted. Of the three delegates qualified by the party offices they already hold, the state party chairman, Charlie Webster is also uncommitted, while the current National Committeeman and Committeewoman are committed to Mitt Romney.[6][7]

Updated results were released by the Maine GOP on February 24. The new table does not show returns from Rome on February 16 or Castine on March 3, but does include returns from the towns listed above for February 18.[8]

Maine Republican caucuses, 2012[9][10][8]
Candidate Votes
(Feb. 11
count)
Votes
(Feb. 17
count)
Votes
(Feb. 24
count)
Percent
(Feb. 11
count)
Percent
(Feb. 17
count)
Percent
(Feb. 24
count)
Projected Delegates Chosen at State Convention [7][11]
GP[12] CNN[13] AP[14]
Mitt Romney 2,190 2,269 2,373 39.2% 39.0% 38.0% 10 9 11 0
Ron Paul 1,996 2,030 2,258 35.7% 34.9% 36.1% 8 9 10 20
Rick Santorum 989 1,052 1,136 17.7% 18.1% 18.2% 4 3 0 0
Newt Gingrich 349 391 405 6.2% 6.7% 6.5% 1 0 0 0
Others & undecided 61 72 78 1.1% 1.2% 1.2% 0 0 0 1
Total: 5,585 5,814 6,250 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 21 21 21 21
Ex officio delegates (not chosen through caucus process): 1 3 3 3
Total Maine delegates to the Republican National Convention: 24 24 24 24

General election

Results

2012 United States presidential election in Maine
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 401,306 56.27% 4
Republican Mitt Romney Paul Ryan 292,276 40.98% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Jim Gray 9,352 1.31% 0
Green Jill Stein Cheri Honkala 8,119 1.14% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 2,127 0.30% 0
Totals 724,758 100.00% 4

By county

County Barack Obama
Democratic
Mitt Romney
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Androscoggin 28,989 54.84% 22,232 42.06% 1,641 3.10% 6,757 12.78% 52,862
Aroostook 17,777 52.50% 15,196 44.88% 887 2.62% 2,581 7.62% 33,860
Cumberland 101,950 62.25% 57,821 35.30% 4,015 2.45% 44,129 26.95% 163,786
Franklin 9,367 57.53% 6,369 39.12% 546 3.35% 2,998 18.41% 16,282
Hancock 17,569 57.04% 12,324 40.01% 906 2.95% 5,245 17.03% 30,799
Kennebec 35,068 55.23% 26,519 41.76% 1,910 3.01% 8,549 13.47% 63,497
Knox 13,223 59.92% 8,248 37.38% 596 2.70% 4,975 22.54% 22,067
Lincoln 11,315 54.51% 8,899 42.87% 543 2.62% 2,416 11.64% 20,757
Oxford 16,330 55.51% 11,996 40.77% 1,094 3.72% 4,334 14.74% 29,420
Penobscot 38,811 50.20% 36,547 47.28% 1,948 2.52% 2,264 2.92% 77,306
Piscataquis 4,149 46.33% 4,530 50.59% 276 3.08% -381 -4.26% 8,955
Sagadahoc 11,821 56.85% 8,429 40.54% 544 2.61% 3,392 16.31% 20,794
Somerset 12,216 49.28% 11,800 47.61% 771 3.11% 416 1.67% 24,787
Waldo 11,296 53.63% 9,058 43.01% 707 3.36% 2,238 10.62% 21,061
Washington 7,803 49.27% 7,550 47.68% 483 3.05% 253 1.59% 15,836
York 61,551 56.96% 43,900 40.63% 2,606 2.41% 17,651 16.33% 108,057
Total 401,306 56.27% 292,276 40.98% 19,598 2.75% 109,030 15.29% 713,180

By congressional district

Obama won both of Maine's two congressional districts.[15]

District Obama % Obama # Romney % Romney # Johnson % Johnson # Stein % Stein # Representative
1st 59.57% 223,035 38.18% 142,937 1.20% 4,501 1.05% 3,946 Chellie Pingree
2nd 52.94% 177,998 44.38% 149,215 1.44% 4,843 1.24% 4,170 Mike Michaud

See also

References

  1. ^ "Maine Secretary of State". Archived from the original on August 1, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2012.
  2. ^ a b "Maine G.O.P. 2012 Caucus Information". Maine Republican Party. January 16, 2012. Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  3. ^ "Most Waldo County Republicans to caucus on Feb. 4". Waldo VillageSoup. January 27, 2012. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  4. ^ "2012 Hancock County Republican Regional Caucus Districts". Hancock County Republican Committee. Retrieved February 11, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Maine Republican Delegation 2012". The Green Papers. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
  6. ^ "Ron Paul Wins Maine". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on May 8, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  7. ^ a b Sistler, Steve (May 6, 2012). "Ron Paul in Maine: Delegates in hand, but trouble afoot?". The Maine Sunday Telegram.
  8. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 24, 2012. Retrieved February 27, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Maine Republican Caucuses". The New York Times. Election 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
  10. ^ "Maine Republican Caucuses". USA Today. Election 2012. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
  11. ^ "Paul wins majority of delegates from Maine GOP". Election 2012. Associated Press. Retrieved May 6, 2012.
  12. ^ The Green Papers, "2012 Maine Republican Caucus" (February 29, 2012). The Green Papers.
  13. ^ CNN, "Republican Caucuses" (February 12, 2012). CNN.
  14. ^ USA Today, "2012 Maine Republican Caucus" (February 25, 2012). USA Today.
  15. ^ "State of Maine Certificate of Ascertainment of Electors" (PDF). Retrieved December 18, 2012.

External links