Allen Boyd

Frederick Allen Boyd Jr. (born June 6, 1945) is an American politician and the former United States Representative for Florida's 2nd congressional district from 1997 to 2011.

He is a member of the Democratic Party.

He currently works for a lobbying firm, the Twenty-First Century Group.

Boyd was born in Valdosta, Georgia to Margaret Elizabeth Finlayson and Frederick Allen Boyd.

He was educated at Florida State University, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Part of heavily Democratic Tallahassee, which has anchored the district since its formation in 1963 (as the 9th District; it was renumbered the 2nd in 1967) was shifted to the Jacksonville-based 3rd District.

In its place, heavily Republican Panama City was shifted from the Pensacola-based 1st District to the 2nd.

After graduating in 1969, Boyd served as an infantry officer in Vietnam with the United States Army.

Boyd first got elected after he won a special election in the 10th district after his predecessor Gene Hodges resigned on November 22, 1988.

He served the district from the January 17, 1989 to November 3, 1992 and the 11th district from November 3, 1992 to November 5, 1996.

He retired from the House, to run for Congress.

He was succeeded in the State House by Janegale Boyd, his sister-in-law.

Boyd is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Boyd entered the 1996 Democratic primary for the 2nd in 1996, after three-term Democratic incumbent Pete Peterson announced his retirement.

He led a three-way Democratic primary with 48 percent of the vote, a few thousand votes short of outright victory.

He then won the runoff with 64 percent of the vote and easily won the election in November.

Boyd is a fifth-generation farmer from Monticello, Florida and is the majority owner of Boyd Family Farms Inc. Boyd has received almost $1.3 million in federal farm subsidies since 1996, placing him in the top 3 percent of farmers receiving subsidies nationally, and 12th among more than 5,300 farms in his district that received subsidy money over this period.

He was reelected with no major-party opposition in 1998 and defeated an underfunded Republican in 2000.

On paper, this made the district considerably friendlier to Republicans; Al Gore narrowly won the old 2nd in 2000, but George W. Bush would have narrowly won the district under its current boundaries.

In 2002, however, the Republican-controlled state legislature significantly altered Boyd's district.

However, Boyd was handily reelected with 66 percent of the vote in 2002 against another underfunded Republican.

In 2004, Boyd faced his first serious test in the form of state representative Bev Kilmer, but Boyd turned back this challenge fairly easily, taking 62 percent of the vote even as George W. Bush carried the district with 54 percent of the vote.

Boyd was unopposed for reelection in 2006 and defeated a nominal Republican challenger in 2008.

His son John was imprisoned in 2008 for transporting illegal narcotics and illegal aliens into the United States from Mexico.

In 2010, Boyd fended off a spirited challenge in the primary from a more liberal Democrat, State Senator Al Lawson, with whom he'd served in the state house.

In the general election, Boyd was defeated by Republican nominee Steve Southerland in the 2010 election, taking only 41 percent of the vote.

Independent candidates Paul C. McKain and Dianne Berryhill were also on the ballot; Ray Netherwood qualified as a write-in candidate.

Boyd is married to Jeannie Schmoe and has 3 grown children (2 sons and 1 daughter) from his previous marriage to Cissy Roush.