Diane Black

American politician (born 1951)

Diane Lynn Black (née Warren; January 16, 1951) is an American politician who served as a U. S. Representative for from January 3, 2011, to January 3, 2019. The district includes several suburban and rural areas east of Nashville. A Republican, she was previously elected to the Tennessee Senate, serving as floor leader of the Republican Caucus. She unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination in the 2018 Tennessee gubernatorial election.

Diane Lynn Warren was born on January 16, 1951, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Joseph and Audrey Warren. Warren graduated from Andover High School in Linthicum, Maryland, in 1969 and was the first member of her family to earn a college degree. Following graduation from Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland, with an associate's degree in nursing, went on to Belmont University, earning a bachelor's degree in nursing in 1991.

Black worked as a registered nurse until she ran for the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1998. Later, she served as an educator at Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tennessee.

Before becoming a state Senator in 2004, she had previously served as a state Representative for six years from 1998. Prior to her election as a Republican state representative, Black had voted in two Democratic primaries in 1996. Black was the Assistant Floor Leader of the Senate Republican Caucus, a member of the Senate Government Operations Committee, and the Vice Chairwoman of the Senate General Welfare, Health, and Human Resources Committee. She was elected the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus Chairwoman in 2006. In May 2009, Black's legislative aide forwarded an e mail depicting a collage of United States Presidents. President Barack Obama's section of the collage was represented by a black square with two eyeballs. Black's reprimand of her aide was criticized as too lenient by two political blogs and Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Chip Forrester. Black said the e mail did not represent her views, and that the reprimand of her aide was in keeping with the legislator's human resource policy for e mail guideline violations.

Black was one of two female U. S. Representatives who prefer the title "congressman"; the other was Republican Marsha Blackburn, also of Tennessee. Both departed the House at the end of the 115th Congress.

In December, 2009, she became a candidate for Tennessee's 6th congressional district to succeed Bart Gordon, who did not run for re election. Her biggest competition in the Republican primary came from former Rutherford County GOP chairwoman Lou Ann Zelenik and State Senator Jim Tracy. On August 5, 2010, Black won the Republican primary with 31% of the vote, over Zelenik and Tracy, who earned 30% each. Brett Carter won the Democratic nomination after most well known Democratic elected officials in the district declined to run. With most Democratic observers writing off the seat as a Republican pick up, CQ Politics rated this race as "Safe Republican". In the November election, Black won with 67 percent of the vote.

In the 2012 general election, Black was a surrogate for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Black made appearances for Romney in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and in various cable news interviews. Black has been a member of the following committees: Committee on the Budget, Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Human Resources, Tea Party Caucus, Republican Study Committee, and the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus. In October 2013, Black introduced the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act (H. R. 3393; 113th Congress), a bill that would amend the Internal Revenue Code to consolidate several different education tax incentives into an expanded American Opportunity Tax Credit. The American Opportunity Tax Credit, under this legislation, would provide a maximum credit of $2,500. Black has received endorsements from Governor Sarah Palin, The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), Governor Mitt Romney, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, former Congressman Allen West, and The U. S. Chamber of Commerce. In October 2015, Black was named to serve on the Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood. Black was a member of the U. S. Japan Caucus.

On August 2, 2017, Black announced her intention to run for Governor of Tennessee in the 2018 election. In March 2018, the Tennessean reported that Black had missed over 50 votes in the U. S. House, the most out of any member of the Tennessee delegation. The newspaper noted that it is typical for members of Congress running for a higher office to miss votes, but that some votes were on major pieces of legislation, including re opening the government following the 2018 shutdown and funding the U. S. military. Black lost to Bill Lee in the Republican primary on August 2, 2018.

During her 2018 gubernatorial run, Black "positioned herself as an ally of President Trump who would crack down on illegal immigration and introduce work requirements for government benefits," according to The Washington Post. The American Conservative Union gave her a 91% evaluation in 2017.

Black often advocated against the Obama administration's EPA rules. She also supported the Trump administration's repeal of the Obama era Clean Power Plan. Black championed a loophole which allowed one trucking company (Fitzgerald) to skirt emissions rules, allowing the firm to produce trucks that emit 40 to 55 times the air pollutants of other new trucks. When the Obama administration sought to close the loophole, Black introduced legislation in 2015 to protect the loophole; the bill failed.

In May 2018, Black said that pornography was "a big part of the root cause" of school shootings. She also said that school shootings were rising due to the "deterioration of the family," mental illness, and violent movies.

Since 1980, Diane Black has been married to David Black. Although the two met in high school, they went their separate ways after graduation. She married her high school sweetheart shortly after graduating, but he struggled with alcoholism and abruptly abandoned the family when she was pregnant with her third child. David's first marriage, which lasted seven years, ended amicably in divorce. The two met again several years later, and he proposed to her on a ski lift. David legally adopted her three children. In 2013 financial disclosure forms, Black listed 115 assets jointly held with her husband. These assets were valued between $32 million and $146.9 million. In 2012, these assets were worth between $34.4 million and $142.19 million. Black is a Protestant.