Thomas Hodge Allen (born April 16, 1945) is an American author and former politician who served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

representing , and the

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

ic nominee for the

U.S. 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 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

against Republican incumbent senator

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Con ...

. Allen lost to Collins (61.5% to 38.5%). Allen was first elected in 1996, defeating

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 ...

incumbent James Longley, Jr. with 55 percent of votes cast to Longley's 45 percent. Allen was re-elected five times, receiving over 55 percent of the vote each time in his district, until his defeat in his 2008 run for the U.S. Senate. After, Allen was appointed president and CEO of the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...

and began his term on May 1, 2009. His book ''Dangerous Convictions: What's Really Wrong with the U.S. Congress'' came out in 2013.

Early life

Allen was born in

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

to Genevieve ("Sukey") Lahee and Charles W. Allen. His grandfather, Neal W. Allen, was a civic leader who served as chairman (mayor) of Portland from 1925-26. He graduated from

Deering High School Deering High School (DHS) is a public high school in Portland, Maine, United States. The school is part of the Portland Public Schools district. It is one of the three public high schools located in Portland, the others being Portland High Scho ...

. He went on to Bowdoin College in

Brunswick, Maine Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 21,756 at the 2020 United States Census. Part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin Intern ...

before winning a Rhodes Scholarship to

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

. During this time he became friends with fellow Rhodes scholar

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. After Oxford he went on to Harvard Law School and practiced as a lawyer.

Early political career

He entered the field of politics when he became a staff member for Governor

Kenneth M. Curtis Kenneth Merwin Curtis (born February 8, 1931) is an American attorney, Democratic politician, and diplomat. He was the Maine Secretary of State from 1965-1966, the Governor of Maine from 1966-1974, and the United States Ambassador to Canada f ...

and later for Senator Edmund S. Muskie. Allen was elected to the city council of

in 1989 and served as the city's mayor between 1991 and 1992 before winning election to the House. Allen ran for governor in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

, losing to Joe Brennan in the Democratic primary.

U.S. House

Tenure

Allen fought Republican efforts to weaken environmental rollbacks between 1996 and 2007. Allen called for a

pay-as-you-go Pay as you go or PAYG may refer to: Finance * Pay-as-you-go tax, or pay-as-you-earn tax * Pay-as-you-go pension plan * PAYGO, the practice in the US of financing expenditures with current funds rather than borrowing * PAUG, a structured financia ...

system that would require offsets to pay for new tax cuts and new spending while on the Budget Committee, much like the system Democrats enacted in their first 100 hours of Congressional control in the 110th Congress. Allen has made health care, campaign finance reform, and small business his legislative priorities.

Committees

House Energy and Commerce Committee The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more tha ...

Subcommittee on Health The U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is a subcommittee within the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Jurisdiction The House Subcommittee on Health has general jurisdiction over bills and resolutions relating to pub ...

** Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee **

Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee The Energy Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals is a subcommittee within the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Prior to 2009, it was known as the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials; it was part o ...

House Budget Committee The United States House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Its responsibilities include legislative oversight of the federal budget process, ...

* House Affordable Medicines Task Force (Co-Chairman) * House Oceans Caucus

Election history

! Year ! Office ! Winner ! Party ! Votes ! % ! Opponent ! Party ! Votes ! % ! Opponent ! Party ! Votes ! % , - , 1996 , rowspan=6 , , rowspan=6 nowrap , Tom Allen , rowspan=6 , Dem. , , 173,745 , , 55.32 , , Jim Longley Jr. (Inc.) , rowspan=6 , Rep. , , 140,354 , , 44.68 , colspan=4, , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, , 134,336 , , 60.33 , , Ross Connelly , , 79,160 , , 35.55 , , Eric Greiner , , Ind. , , 9,182 , , 4.12 , - ,

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 ...

, , 202,823 , , 59.81 , , Jane Amero , , 123,915 , , 36.54 , , J. Frederic Staples , , Lib. , , 12,356 , , 3.64 , - , 2002 , , 172,646 , , 63.81 , ,

Steven Joyce Steven Leonard Joyce (born 7 April 1963) is a New Zealand former politician, who entered the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2008 as a member of the New Zealand National Party. In the same year he became Minister of Transport and Minis ...

, , 97,931 , , 36.19 , colspan=4, , - , 2004 , , 219,077 , , 59.74 , , Charlie Summers , , 147,663 , , 40.26 , colspan=4, , - , 2006 , , 168,709 , , 60.67 , , Darlene Curley , , 87,589 , , 31.50 , ,

Dexter Kamilewicz Dexter may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Dexter, the main character of the American animated series ''Dexter's Laboratory'' that aired from 1996 to 2003 * Dexter, a fictional character in the British web series ''Diary of a Bad Man'' * Dexte ...

, , Ind. , , 21,792 , , 7.84

Footnotes

External links

*
Rep. Tom Allen
at PoliticalBase.com * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Tom 1945 births 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American politicians Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford American Rhodes Scholars Bowdoin College alumni Deering High School alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine Harvard Law School alumni Living people Maine lawyers Mayors of Portland, Maine Portland, Maine City Council members