Jamie Radtke

United States Senate election in Virginia, 2012

← 2006 November 6, 2012 2018 →
Class 1 Senator →
Turnout	66.4% (voting eligible)
Nominee Tim Kaine George Allen Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,010,067 1,785,542 Percentage 52.9% 47.0%
U.S. Senate election results map. Blue denotes counties/districts won by Kaine. Red denotes those won by Allen.
U.S. Senator before election Jim Webb Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Tim Kaine Democratic

Jim Webb
Democratic

Tim Kaine
Democratic

The 2012 United States Senate election in Virginia took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the 2012 U.S. presidential election as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Jim Webb decided to retire instead of running for re-election to a second term. Former Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine was unopposed for the Democratic nomination and the Republican party nominated former Senator and Governor George Allen through a primary on June 12, 2012. Kaine won the open seat.

In Virginia, parties have the option of whether to hold a primary or to nominate their candidate through a party convention. In November 2010, the Virginia GOP announced that it had chosen to hold a primary.

Three debates between Republican candidates were announced before the primary on June 12, 2012. The debates took place in Richmond, Northern Virginia, and Hampton Roads.

Only Allen and Kaine qualified for the ballot.

David Gregory moderated a debate between Kaine and Allen on September 20, 2012. Topics included partisan gridlock in Washington policy making, job creation, tax policy, and Middle East unrest.

Once incumbent U.S. Senator Jim Webb decided to retire, many Democratic candidates were speculated. These included U.S. Congressmen Rick Boucher,Gerry Connolly,Glenn Nye,Tom Perriello and Bobby Scott. However, they all declined and encouraged Kaine to run for the seat, believing he would be by far the most electable candidate. Courtney Lynch, former Marine Corps Officer and Fairfax business consultant and Julien Modica, former CEO of the Brain Trauma Recovery & Policy Institute, eventually withdrew from the election, allowing Kaine to be unopposed in the Democratic primary.