Kirkpatrick announced she would run again for her old congressional seat in 2012. Redistricting made the district significantly more Democratic than its predecessor; Democrats now have a nine-point registration advantage. Kirkpatrick was initially priming for a rematch against Gosar, but Gosar opted to run for reelection in the newly created, heavily Republican 4th district. Kirkpatrick narrowly won the general election on November 6, 2012, defeating Republican Jonathan Paton, a former state Senator. Kirkpatrick won the seat with less than 50% of the vote, as a Libertarian Party candidate took more than 6%.