Leah G. Cole Allen (born October 15, 1988) is an American politician who served in the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into single-member ...

and was the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

nominee for

Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts The lieutenant governor of Massachusetts is the first in the line to discharge the powers and duties of the office of governor following the incapacitation of the Governor of Massachusetts. The constitutional honorific title for the office is His ...

in the

2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election The 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the governor of Massachusetts. Republican former state representative Geoff Diehl, Democratic state attorney general Maura Healey, and Libertarian Kevin Reed ...

State representative

Allen was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 2013. A first time candidate, she defeated Democrat Beverley Griffin Dunne 35% to 34% in a special election to fill the 12th Essex District seat that had been vacant since the death of

Joyce Spiliotis Joyce A. Spiliotis (December 27, 1946 – November 29, 2012) was an American politician. She was born in Peabody, Massachusetts, and represented the 12th Essex district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2003 until her death ...

the previous November. She was reelected in 2014 and remained in the House until September 28, 2015, when she resigned to focus on her nursing career.

2022 election

Allen lost her nursing job at Beverly Hospital for not complying with a

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...

mandate. Allen then entered the 2022 election for

as the running mate of

Geoff Diehl Geoffrey G. Diehl (born April 23, 1969) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Republican, he represented the 7th Plymouth district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019. Diehl was an unsuc ...

. She defeated

Kate Campanale Kate D. Campanale (born circa 1986) is an American politician from Massachusetts. She was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2015–2019. On March 1, 2022, Campanale announced her candidacy for Lieutenant Governor of Massa ...

in the primary election to win the Republican nomination. Allen and Diehl lost the general election to Democrats

Maura Healey Maura Tracy Healey (born February 8, 1971) is an American politician and lawyer serving as the Massachusetts Attorney General since January 2015. She is the governor-elect of Massachusetts, having won the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial elect ...

and

Kim Driscoll Kimberley Layne Driscoll (born August 12, 1966) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as the 73rd lieutenant governor of Massachusetts since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Driscoll previously served as the 50th mayor of Sa ...

Personal life

She was born in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

References

21st-century American women Living people Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Politicians from Lynn, Massachusetts Women state legislators in Massachusetts 1988 births {{Massachusetts-MARepresentative-stub