Diane Winston

Who is Diane Winston?

Diane Grisham Winston is a businesswoman from Covington, Louisiana, who served as a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1996 until term-limited in 2008. Her District 77 includes parts of St. Tammany and Tangipahoa parishes in suburban New Orleans. In 2012, the district becomes based only in St. Tammany Parish.

Winston graduated in 1966 from Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, Texas. She first attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and thereafter received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Orleans. She is a fellow of the Institute of Politics of Loyola University in New Orleans, along former Representative Garey Forster and government watchdog C.B. Forgotston. Prior to her legislative service, Winston was the executive director of the St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce from 1988-1996. She also operated her own retail business in Covington. She has been active in the Children’s Advocacy Center, the Louisiana Breast Cancer Task Force, Habitat for Humanity, and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. Married to Robert Bryant “Bob” Winston, she is Lutheran.

In the 1995 House election, Winston led a three-candidate field with 5,824 votes. Trailing her was the then Democrat Jay Blossman and a second Republican, Denis P. Bechac, who received 5,642 and 4,897, respectively.