United States Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012

Republican Party presidential primaries, 2012

← 2008 January 3 to July 14, 2012 2016 →
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%   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%
First place finishes by popular vote   Mitt Romney (42)   Rick Santorum (11)   Newt Gingrich (2)   Ron Paul (1)
First place finishes by delegate allocation   Mitt Romney (45)   Rick Santorum (6)   Ron Paul (4)   Newt Gingrich (2)
First place finishes by convention roll call   Mitt Romney (53)   Ron Paul (3)
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.