Diane B. Allen (born March 8, 1948) is an American politician and television journalist. A member of the Republican Party, she represented the 7th legislative district in the New Jersey Assembly from 1996 to 1998 and New Jersey Senate from 1998 to 2018.Senator Allen's legislative web page
New Jersey Legislature. Accessed February 23, 2008. Allen was the senate majority whip from 1998 to 2001, deputy Republican conference leader from 2002 to 2003, and later deputy minority leader. In 2002, she was an unsuccessful candidate for

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

, finishing second in the Republican primary. Allen was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in 2021 after

Jack Ciattarelli Jack M. Ciattarelli ( ; born December 12, 1961) is an American politician and businessman. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2011 to 2018, representing the 16th legislative district. He was also t ...

announced she had agreed to join his ticket. The pair lost the general election to the incumbent Democratic ticket of

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American financier, diplomat, and politician serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since January 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the United States ambassador to Germa ...

and

Sheila Oliver Sheila Y. Oliver (born July 14, 1952) is an American politician serving as the second lieutenant governor of New Jersey since 2018. She previously served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2004 to 2018, where she represented the 34th legi ...

Early life

Allen grew up in

Moorestown, New Jersey Moorestown is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was ...

and graduated as the

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

of the

Moorestown High School Moorestown High School (MHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grades from Moorestown in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the M ...

class of 1966. In 1969, Allen was crowned Miss Burlington County. Allen received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in philosophy from

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

. In 1973, Allen won a national

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

competition.

Broadcasting career

Allen began her broadcast news career in 1970 with WJJZ, an AM radio station based in

Mount Holly, New Jersey Mount Holly is a township that is the county seat of Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia, the nation's sixth largest city as of 2020, As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population w ...

. She worked at the

New Jersey Network The New Jersey Network (NJN) was a network of public television and radio stations serving the U.S. state of New Jersey. NJN was a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) for television and the National Public Radio (NPR) for radio, br ...

before joining an ABC affiliate in Chicago. In 1976, Allen returned home to cover New Jersey politics for KYW-TV, the then-

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

(now

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

) affiliate in Philadelphia. In 1985, she co-moderated the New Jersey gubernatorial debate between Governor

Thomas Kean Thomas Howard Kean ( ; born April 21, 1935) is an American businessman, academic administrator and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Kean served as the 48th governor of New Jersey from 1982 to 1990. Following his tenure as governor, ...

and Peter Shapiro. She left the network in 1988 and later won a lawsuit against CBS for discriminatory practices. In 1989, she joined

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...

, the then-CBS (now NBC) affiliate in Philadelphia, and remained there until 1994. In 2000, Allen briefly served as an interim anchor for CN8 while another anchorwoman was on vacation. This prompted criticism from Senate Minority Leader Richard Codey, who criticized her for conducting her duties as an officeholder while reporting on politics. Allen is the president of VidComm, Inc., a media production company she founded after her broadcasting career ended.

Accolades

During her career, Allen won eight

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

. The

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia is a state-chartered, federally recognized, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, devoted to collecting information about and promoting cultural work related to broadcasting and communications in Philadelphia, Pe ...

inducted Allen into their Hall of Fame in 2005.

Political career

Allen first sought elective office in the 1970s when she ran for the Board of Education of the

Moorestown Township Public Schools The Moorestown Township Public Schools (MTPS) is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Moorestown, in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2018� ...

New Jersey Assembly

1995 election

Allen was recruited to state politics by Burlington County Republican chair Glenn Paulsen, who asked her to run for Assembly in 1995 to set up a 1997 campaign for State Senate. In the 1995 general election, Allen and Republican running mate Carmine DeSopo were elected over Democratic incumbent Steven M. Petrillo and his running mate, newcomer Joseph P. Dugan.Official List Candidate Returns for State Senate For November 1995 General Election
New Jersey Department of State. Accessed August 25, 2017. The $1.1 million spent in the 1995 Assembly race made it the first in New Jersey to cross the $1 million spending mark.

New Jersey Senate

Elections

In 1997, Allen announced her campaign for Senate as expected. Incumbent Democrat

Jack Casey John "Jack" Casey (June 1, 1935 - February 24, 2019) was an American Democratic Party politician who served one four-year term in the New Jersey Senate, where he represented the 7th Legislative District from 1994 to 1998. Casey also served in th ...

announced late that he would not to stand for re-election, citing health complications; Allen defeated Democratic nominee Robert P. Broderick with 54% of the vote.Official List Candidate Returns for State Senate For November 1997 General Election
New Jersey Department of State. Accessed August 25, 2017. Despite her district's solid Democratic lean—during her entire twenty-year tenure, her district never elected one of her Republican running mates to the Assembly—Allen consistently won re-election with little trouble. In 2001, Allen defeated U.S. Navy SEAL reservist Louis Gallagher with 54% of the vote. Gallagher was called up for active duty late in the race following the September 11 attacks, and Allen debated his wife instead.Official List Candidate Returns for State Senate For November 2001 General Election
New Jersey Department of State. Accessed August 25, 2017. In 2003, Allen defeated Diane F. Gabriel with 60% of the vote.Official List Candidate Returns for State Senate For November 2003 General Election
New Jersey Department of State, December 2, 2003. Accessed June 6, 2017. In 2007, Allen defeated Rich Dennison of Florence with 56% of the vote. In 2011, Allen defeated a primary challenge from Carol Lokan-Moore with 90% of the vote and won the general election against Gail Cook with 57%.Official List Candidate Returns for State Senate For November 2011 General Election
New Jersey Department of State, December 14, 2011. Accessed January 7, 2012. In 2013, Allen defeated Gary Catrambone with 60% of the vote.

Tenure

Throughout her career in the Senate, Allen was an advocate for stricter enforcement of discrimination and workplace harassment restrictions. During her final year in office, Allen worked to override Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

's veto of an equal pay law. Three months after she left office, new Governor

signed the Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act, which he said, "cement d Allen'slegacy as a lawmaker who worked across the aisle to do the right things for our state.” In addition to her work on women's equality, Allen authored the NJSAVER rebate plan and sponsored legislation assisting senior citizens in doubling their Homestead Rebate checks. In November 2013, Allen was elected Chair of the

National Foundation for Women Legislators National Foundation for Women Legislators (NFWL) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt foundation established by the National Order of Women Legislators (NOWL) in the USA. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the nort ...

. The organization represents the near 1800 female state legislators in America, and supports elected women from all levels of governance. After leaving office, Allen founded a political action committee dedicated to encouraging women to run for public office on a non-partisan basis.

2002 United States Senate campaign

In 2002, Allen ran to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator

Robert Torricelli Robert Guy Torricelli (born August 27, 1951), is an American attorney and former politician. A Democrat, Torricelli served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 9th district from 1983 to 1997 and as a United States s ...

. Early in the race, the favorite was Jim Treffinger, who had run in 2000. However, Treffinger was forced to drop out under an ethics cloud after the FBI raided his Newark office. The party leadership coalesced behind Doug Forrester, a multimillionaire businessman who pledged to personally fund his campaign. During the primary, Allen was endorsed by

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. She faced criticism from fellow Republicans for her Quaker faith and pacifism, which conflicted with the national mood following the September 11 attacks. Allen finished a close second to Forrester, who won the primary with 44.6% of the vote to Allen's 36.9%. She carried every county in South Jersey except for

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

, home of third-place finisher State Senator John J. Matheussen, and

Ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

. Forrester lost the general election to

Frank Lautenberg Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (; January 23, 1924 June 3, 2013) was an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as United States Senator from New Jersey from 1982 to 2001, and again from 2003 until his death in 2013. He was ori ...

, who entered the race after Torricelli withdrew amid ethics concerns and poor polling.

Other offices

Senator Allen has served as a

delegate Delegate or delegates may refer to: * Delegate, New South Wales, a town in Australia * Delegate (CLI), a computer programming technique * Delegate (American politics), a representative in any of various political organizations * Delegate (Unit ...

to the Republican National Convention in 1996,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, as well as in 2004 and 2012. In 2008, Allen was a leading candidate to succeed

Jim Saxton Hugh James Saxton (born January 22, 1943) is an American politician from New Jersey. A member of the Republican Party, he represented parts of Burlington, Ocean, and Camden counties in the United States House of Representatives from 1984 to 200 ...

in the U.S. House. However, she announced on November 29, 2007 that she would not run for the seat, citing factionalism in the Burlington County Republican Party. In 2009, Allen was a leading candidate to join

's ticket as the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor. Christie ultimately chose Monmouth County Sheriff

Kim Guadagno Kimberly Ann Guadagno (; ''née'' McFadden; born April 13, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the first lieutenant governor and 33rd secretary of state of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Guadagno was the Republican nominee ...

instead.

2021 lieutenant gubernatorial campaign

Republican nominee for Governor Jack Ciattarelli announced his selection of Allen as his running mate on August 4, 2021. Allen was an early supporter of Ciattarelli's campaign and supervised his campaign's anti-harassment policies. The pair lost the general election to the incumbent Democratic ticket of

and

Election results

Personal life

, Allen and her husband, Sam, live in Edgewater Park Township. They have two children. She is a Quaker. Allen and her husband are members of Mt. Laurel Friends Meeting and Moorestown Friends Meeting, where she currently serves on the Ministry Committee. In addition to her hang gliding and beauty pageant career, Allen is a

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

ka, national swimming champion, pilot, and

sharpshooter A sharpshooter is one who is highly proficient at firing firearms or other projectile weapons accurately. Military units composed of sharpshooters were important factors in 19th-century combat. Along with " marksman" and "expert", "sharpshooter" ...

Health

On November 9, 2009, Allen announced that she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of

oral cancer Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on ...

. Though doctors had initially thought that treatment would require removal of her tongue and that she would be unable to speak normally, surgery performed in 2010 did not greatly impair her speech, and she has since undergone radiation and laser treatments.Staff
"Back from surgery for oral cancer, Diane Allen still has a lot to say"
''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to '' The Jersey Journal'' of Jersey City, ''The Times'' of Trenton and the '' Staten Island Advance'', all of ...

'', August 17, 2010. Accessed January 26, 2012. "When state Sen. Diane Allen found out last November that she had late-stage oral cancer, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital told her they probably would have to remove a large portion of her tongue, leaving her unable to use her voice normally ever again."

References

External links

*''New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms''
201520142013201220112010200920082007200620052004Senator Diane B. Allen

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia webpage
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Diane B. 1948 births 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American television journalists American women television journalists Bucknell University alumni Candidates in the 2002 United States elections Candidates in the 2021 United States elections Daytime Emmy Award winners Living people Moorestown High School alumni Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Republican Party New Jersey state senators People from Edgewater Park, New Jersey People from Moorestown, New Jersey Politicians from Burlington County, New Jersey Politicians from Newark, New Jersey Television anchors from Philadelphia Women state legislators in New Jersey