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United States Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012

Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012
United States
← 2008 January 3 to July 14, 2012 2016 →
  Mitt Romney by Gage Skidmore 6.jpg Rick Santorum by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Candidate Mitt Romney Rick Santorum
Home state Massachusetts Pennsylvania
Delegate count 1,575 245
Contests won 42 11
Popular vote 10,031,336 3,932,069
Percentage 52.1% 20.4%

  Ron Paul, official Congressional photo portrait, 2007.jpg Newt Gingrich by Gage Skidmore 6.jpg
Candidate Ron Paul Newt Gingrich
Home state Texas Georgia
Delegate count 177 138
Contests won 1 2
Popular vote 2,095,795 2,734,570
Percentage 10.9% 14.2%

20140526005342!Republican Party presidential primaries results, 2012.svg
First place finishes by popular vote

Republican Party presidential primaries results, 2012 by plurality.svg
First place finishes by delegate allocation

Republican Party presidential primaries results, 2012 by convention roll call map.svg
First place finishes by convention roll call

Previous Republican nominee

John McCain

Republican nominee

Mitt Romney


John McCain

Mitt Romney

The 2012 Republican presidential primaries were the selection processes in which voters of the Republican Party elected state delegations to the Republican National Convention. The national convention then selected its nominee to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. There were 2,286 delegates chosen, and a candidate needed to accumulate 1,144 delegate votes at the convention to win the nomination. The caucuses allocated delegates to the respective state delegations to the national convention, but the actual election of the delegates were, many times, at a later date. Delegates were elected in different ways that vary from state to state. They could be elected at local conventions, selected from slates submitted by the candidates, selected at committee meetings, or elected directly at the caucuses and primaries.

The primary contest began in 2011 with a fairly wide field. Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts and the runner-up in the 2008 primaries, had been preparing to run for president ever since the 2008 election, and was from early on the favorite to win the nomination. However, he lacked support from the party's conservative wing and the media narrative became: "Who will be the anti-Romney candidate?" Several candidates rose in the polls throughout the year. However, the field was down to four candidates by February 2012: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich, U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, former Governor Romney and former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum. It was the first presidential primary to be affected by a Supreme Court ruling that allowed unlimited independent expenditures to support or oppose candidates through super PACs.


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