2010 United States House of Representatives election in North Dakota

The 2010 House election in North Dakota took place on November 2, 2010 to elect the state's at-large Representative to the United States House of Representatives. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; this election was for the 112th Congress from January 3, 2011 until January 3, 2013. North Dakota has one seat in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States Census.

2010 United States House of Representatives election in North Dakota
November 2, 2010 (2010-11-02)
Turnout237,137
 
Nominee Rick Berg Earl Pomeroy
Party Republican Democratic-NPL
Popular vote 129,802 106,542
Percentage 54.7% 44.9%
County results
Berg:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Pomeroy:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
U.S. Representative before election

Earl Pomeroy
Democratic-NPL

 Elected U.S. Representative

Rick Berg
Republican

Elections in North Dakota
Federal government
Presidential
U.S. Senate
U.S. House
State government
General elections
Gubernatorial elections
Secretary of State elections
Ballot measures
2004
Constitutional Measure 1

The election was held concurrently with the United States Senate elections of 2010 (including one in North Dakota), the United States House elections in other states and various state and local elections.

Background

Despite Republican dominance at the presidential level in North Dakota, which has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, as well as state and local elections, Democrats achieved several consecutive victories in Congressional elections in the state since the 1980s. Democrats had held the state's at-large House seat since 1981 when Incumbent Republican Representative Mark Andrews retired from the House of Representatives to run for and subsequently win election to the Senate in 1980. In 1986, Democrats gained North Dakota's Class III U.S. Senate seat in addition to having already held the state's Class I seat, thus giving Democrats control of both its U.S. Senate seats for the first time in North Dakota's history. From 1987 to 2011, North Dakota had a completely Democratic Congressional delegation.

Since his first election in 1992, incumbent Democrat Earl Pomeroy had usually won reelection by comfortable margins. However with Democrats fighting in a much tougher political environment in 2010, Republicans planned on putting forward a serious challenge.[1] Republicans running against him included state Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer, state Representative Rick Berg, and former University of Mary football coach Paul Schaffner. Pomeroy was likely more vulnerable than usual due to his support for the Democratic House Healthcare bill, which 64% of North Dakotans opposed, and President's Obama declining job approval ratings in the state (of which 39% approve and 58% disapprove, with 45% strongly disapproving).[2]

Candidates

Democrats

Republicans

Polling
Poll source Date(s)dministered Earl
Pomeroy (D)		 Rick
Berg (R)		 Other Undecided
Public Opinion Strategies† October 24–25, 2010 42% 51% - -
Rasmussen Reports October 18–19, 2010 42% 52% 1% 5%
The Hill/ANGA October 16–19, 2010 45% 44% - 9%
Prairie Poll October 2010 44% 34% - -
Rasmussen Reports September 20–21, 2010 45% 48% 1% 5%
Garin-Hart-Yang† September 10–12, 2010 46% 44% - -
Rasmussen Reports August 10–11, 2010 44% 53% 1% 3%
Rasmussen Reports July 21, 2010 46% 49% 1% 5%
Rasmussen Reports June 15–16, 2010 44% 51% 1% 5%
Rasmussen Reports May 19, 2010 43% 52% 2% 3%
Rasmussen Reports April 20, 2010 45% 49% 2% 4%
Rasmussen Reports March 23–24, 2010 44% 51% 1% 4%
Rasmussen Reports February 9–10, 2010 40% 46% 3% 11%

†Internal poll (Garin-Hart-Yang for Pomeroy and Public Opinion Strategies for Berg)

Results
North Dakota's at-large congressional district election, 2010[3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Rick Berg 129,802 54.74
Democratic-NPL Earl Pomeroy (incumbent) 106,542 44.93
Write-ins 793 0.33
Total votes 237,137 100.00
Republican gain from Democratic-NPL

See also

References
  1. Cadei, Emily (2010-02-12). "Pomeroy Trails GOP Challenger in North Dakota - The Eye (CQ Politics)". Blogs.cqpolitics.com. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  2. "Election 2010: North Dakota House of Representatives - Rasmussen Reports". Rasmussenreports.com. 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  3. http://results.sos.nd.gov/resultsSW.aspx?text=Race&type=SW&map=CTY
Debates
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.