Rick Allen (politician)
Rick Allen | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2015 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 12th district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | John Barrow |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Richard Wayne Allen November 7, 1951 Augusta, Georgia, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | Robin Reeve |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | Auburn University (BS) |
| Website | House website Campaign website |
Richard Wayne Allen (born November 7, 1951) is an American politician and businessman who has served as the Republican Party's U.S. representative for Georgia's 12th congressional district since 2015. Georgia's 12th district is in East Central Georgia and favors Republicans by seven points according to the 2025 Cook Partisan Voting Index. Allen began his career as a project manager after graduating from Auburn in 1973 with a degree in building construction. In 1976, he founded a construction company.
Allen is one of the more wealthy US Congress members and spent almost a million dollars of his own money on the 2014 Republican primary, which he won. The 2014 general election between Allen and the incumbent John Barrow drew national attention and funding. Barrow had represented Georgia's 12th district since 2005 and was the last remaining Blue Dog Democrat in the deep south. The district was more Republican-favoring after a redistricting. Allen defeated Barrow with 54.7% of the vote. From 2016 to present, he has been re-elected to successive biennial terms with about 60% of the vote each time.
Allen is a Methodist who has attracted scrutiny for his interpretation and inaccurate quoting of Genesis 12:3 during a congressional hearing about pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University. Using his version of Genesis 12:3, he asked the university president if she wanted Columbia to be "cursed by God." As a freshman lawmaker, Allen drew media attention and disgust from some Republicans when he communicated to them that supporting an anti-discrimination provision for LGBT individuals was against Christian principles.
On January 6, 2021, he was one of the 139 Republican House members who objected to certifying Biden as president. Days after the January 6 United States Capitol attack, in comments to the chief of staff of the Trump administration, he stated Trump was being used by God in spiritual warfare. Allen has supported the "Muslim ban", the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. He does not make a practice of holding town halls; instead, he uses over-the-telephone "town halls."