Name: Diane McFarlen
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: March, 16th, 1932
State/Region/Superregion: Texas / Sun Belt / Heartland
Political Party: Republican
Diane McFarlen was born in 1932 to a worker familiy in El Paso, Texas.
Her father, Adam Greenberg, served in the United States Navy during the war and was killed in the Battle of the Leyte Gulf on October, 24th, 1944.
Lily Greenberg suffered under depression after the loss of her husband and committed suicide only two years after his death.
Diane, 14 years old, moved to her grandparents in Houston who owned one of the largest factories in Texas at that time.
When reaching the age of 16, she started working at a local restaurant at night while working at her grandparent's factory during the day.
At the age of 20, she joined the NRA and is a lifelong member of the association.
Her grandparents died in 1955, passing all their welth and estates on to her.
Diane McFarlen became a millionaire when oil was found on one of her properties which she leased to an oil company for commission.
In addition to that, she also continued her grandparents' business and built several more factories throughout Texas.
She engaged in politics for the first time during the time of the Civil Rights Act. Diane McFarlen was a fierce supporter of the Act and opposed Barry Goldwater during the 1964 presidential elections because of his views on the Civil Rights Act.
In 1980, she threw her support behind Ronald Reagan and decided to run for the Texas House of Representatives. She won against a longtime Democratic incumbent by a razor thin margin.
She was re-elected in 1982 and became Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives in 1984. After winning her fourth and fifth term in 1986 and 1988, she decided to finally run for United States House of Representatives in 1990.
She then crushed her Democratic opponent by a 68%-42% margin.
In the 1992 Elections, she was one of the leading characters of the House Republican Campaign Committee in the Heartland where she appeared along with many other Republican candidates in the region.
McFarlen was re-elected to her second term by a 63%-37% margin.
After the Republican takeover of the House in 1992, Diane McFarlen was appointed Chairwoman of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committee.
The first woman to hold that position.
In 1993, she was elected the first female House Majority Leader after the resignation of Jim Powers (R-IL) and is also Speaker Pro Tempore in case of absence of Speaker Thomas (R-OR).
In July 1994, Diane McFarlen was appointed to the US Senate by Governor Dresner to fill out the rest of the term of Senator Murphy.
What followed was a very nasty primary against former Democratic Lt.Governor Rhodes who switched party affiliation a few months before primary day. McFarlen narrowly survived the heated primary and overcame the heated attacks by the now-Republican Lt.Governor and her money disadvantage, squeezing out a 50.48% - 49.52% victoy. She slowly regained footing for the general election and spent much time to restore her image and then went on to face Congressman Bridges (D-TX) in the general election.
Some Sunbelt newspapers were ready to write McFarlen off after the primary and called her campaign against Congressman Bridges "doomed from the beginning". But the Senator rallied the base behind her again and sailed to a hard fought victory over Congressman Bridges, winning every state except Arkansas.
Diane is married to attorney Eric McFarlen and has two children and three grandchildren.
Election History
1980 - Texas House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX): 50.43%
Gregory Thuner (D-TX): 49.57%
1982- Texas House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX): 54.63%
Gregory Thuner (D-TX): 45.37%
1984- Texas House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX): 59.82%
Gregory Thuner (D-TX): 40.187%
1986- Texas House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX): 73.18%
Gregory Thuner (D-TX): 26.82%
1988- Texas House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX): 98.26%
Other: 1.74%
1990 - House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX) - 67.39%
James Lanney (D-TX) - 31,61%
1992 - House Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX) - 68.53%
Samantha Willma (D-TX) ) - 31.47%
1994 - Senate Primary
Diane McFarlen (R-TX) - 50.48%
Liberty Rhodes (R-TX) - 49.52%
1992 - Senate Election
Diane McFarlen (R-TX) - 52.53%
George W. Bridges (D-TX) - 46.92%
