Rick Allen

Biography & Campaign Analysis

Background

Rick Allen was born Richard Wayne Allen on November 7, 1951, in Augusta. He attended Auburn University and graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Science in building construction. After college he worked for three years as a project manager for a builder, and in 1976 he founded R.W. Allen and Associates, an Augusta-based construction company that also has operations in Athens.

Career

Allen first sought the 12th district seat in 2012, when he advanced to a Republican runoff and lost to state representative Lee Anderson, 49.7% to 50.3%. In 2014 he won a five-way Republican primary with 54% of the vote and then defeated the Democratic incumbent, John Barrow, with 54.7% in a district that redistricting had made more Republican. He has been re-elected every two years since then, most recently in 2024 with 60.3% of the vote.

In the House, Allen sat on the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Energy and Commerce during the 118th Congress, and he is a member of the Republican Study Committee. On January 6, 2021, he was one of 139 Republican House members who objected to certifying Biden as president. He voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017 and, in 2025, for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

2026 race

Rick Allen is seeking re-election in Georgia's 12th congressional district, which is based in the central-east part of the state around Augusta. In the Republican primary he defeated behavioral therapist Tori Branum, taking 83.4% of the vote.

His Democratic opponent is Ceretta Smith, a Grovetown city councilor who won her party's nomination in a runoff against educator Traci George with 55.8% of the vote. The general election between Allen and Smith takes place on November 3, 2026.