Diane B. Allen (born March 8, 1948 in Newark, NJ) is an American Republican Party politician, who has been serving in the New Jersey State Senate since 1998, where she represents the 7th Legislative District. She served as the Deputy Republican Conference Leader from 2002-2003 and as the Majority Whip from 1998-2001. She was a member of the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature, the New Jersey General Assembly, from 1996-1998.^[1]

Senator Allen has served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1996 and 2000. She has served on the Martin Luther King Commission since 1998 and the New Jersey Human Relations Council since 2003. She has been the Senate's Deputy Minority Leader since 2006, and serves in the Senate on the Education Committee and the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.^[1]

She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in 2002, with businessman Doug Forrester winning the party's nomination.^[2]

Allen was a television anchor and reporter for KYW-TV from 1976 to 1978, and again from 1982 to 1988^[3] and at WCAU-TV from 1989 to 1994, both in Philadelphia.^[4] She also worked at WLS-TV in Chicago from 1979 to 1982.

Allen received a B.A. from Bucknell University in Philosophy. She is the President of VidComm, Inc.^[1] She is currently a resident of Edgewater Park Township.^[5]

In 2007, Allen won re-election. She was unopposed in the Republican primary and defeated Democratic challenger Rich Dennison of Florence in the November general election.^[6][7][8]

Allen was considered a potential candidate for the New Jersey's 3rd congressional district seat being vacated by fellow Republican Jim Saxton in the 2008 election.^[9] However, she announced on November 29, 2007, that she would not run for the seat, citing factionalism in the Burlington County Republican Party in her statement.^[10]

On November 9, 2009, Allen announced that she has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.^[11]

[edit] District 7

Each of the forty districts in the New Jersey Legislature has one representative in the New Jersey Senate and two members in the New Jersey General Assembly. The other representatives from the 7th Legislative District for the 2008-2009 Legislative Session are:

• Assemblyman Herb Conaway, and
• Assemblyman Jack Conners

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Senator Diane Allen's Official Site
• Senator Allen's legislative web page, New Jersey Legislature
• New Jersey Legislature financial disclosure forms
  • 2007 2006 2005 2004
• Senator Diane B. Allen, Project Vote Smart