Diane Neal From 'Law & Order: SVU’ Explains Exactly Why She's Running for Congress
Diane Neal doesn't care about being famous. The actress turned politician already knows what it means to be a celebrity; she famously played Casey Novak on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for five seasons, and then returned in later years. She's acted in NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans, and she's appeared on shows like Suits and 30 Rock. But now, she's chosen a different, albeit just as hectic, path: politics. Neal is running as an independent for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York's 19th congressional district, going up against three men, including the incumbent. Below, she describes what drove her to run for office and the specific challenges she's faced as a woman on the ballot.
I’ve always been really active. I’m an accidental actor but intentionally always interested in politics. I didn’t think that I would run. I loved civics, I loved government, I loved the history of political philosophy, political theory, how democracies came into being from Athenian times, it’s always something that’s fascinated me. This last election, I think it was a shock for lots of people. And so that night, November 8th, I couldn’t believe what was happening. The next day, it was literally the very next day, I thought, "Maybe I should run for my seat."
I was invited to all of these secret celebrity resister groups. And after the first few months, I was like, "Hey guys, I studied neuroscience and, really on a basic level, when you’re really condescending or judgmental toward people of a different view, it tends to make them dig deeper as opposed to being open to your point of view." And oh my god, the backlash. Everyone was like, "You don’t know what you’re talking about," and I was like, "Fair enough. It’s just a suggestion guys." So I started dropping out of all the intense resist groups because I thought, "We’re always talking to only each other about things that we all agree with. We’re not getting any new information or hearing anybody else’s point of view." And it was kind of a self-reinforcing loop or echo chamber.
I’m upstate [in New York] because an uninsured drunk driver fractured my spine, and so I’ve been dealing with that for a few years without being able to work. The one benefit of that is that I have a ton of free time that I’ve never had before. And I’ve been here full-time upstate, and I see how neglected it is.
The first few months I was really looking at it and reading and pondering the way that I could do this best. I was taking into consideration my own life experience. I come from not a wealthy family [by] any stretch. I come from a heavily military family and a lot of them tend to be Libertarian. I play with guns on TV, so a lot of people on the right are like, "Oh, she’s got to be Republican." And I didn’t want to be labeled. The partisanship post-Trump has gotten to a degree that is wicked crazy. Just absolutely intense. People that you’ve known forever and people that you love, everyone’s afraid to talk about politics. Everyone’s afraid to say who they voted for with fear of judgement. It’s not healthy, and it doesn’t lead to any kind of civic discussion where problems can be solved. And that’s really the whole point of politics anyway.
I started talking to everyone that was running for office in various parties and various levels of government. [I thought] I might be able to do this as an independent, without any kind of label. Being in everybody’s living rooms for the last 20 years, you tend to be more approachable. And so I thought, this is a great opportunity to talk to everybody about what’s important to them. This is just such a rare moment in time, and I have such a random background, random series of experiences. My first job, I was a presser at a dry cleaners; it was heinous. And then I’ve had amazing jobs where I get to play dress up and people bring me food. It’s just been this incredible breath of understanding.
I actually announced in late last year, and it has been absolutely crazy since then. Every day, I am blown away by what otherwise intelligent people will believe just because it suits their needs or what the people in power will do to maintain that power.
But the really good part is that I’ve spent most of my adult life on popular shows. I’m really lucky. I’ve never had a publicist because I don’t really care about being famous. It’s just a job. I like my privacy, and I knew I would have to give that up if I was going to do this. I also know that fame isn’t real.
The lies and the nastiness… I wish I could explain what it’s like being on the receiving end of people going, "Obviously you’ve been bribed by the Mercers," as my own bank account is just dwindling to nothing. And, "You’re doing this as a vanity project." Oh, right. I’m just draining my savings while I can’t work and giving up esteem in my own industry because I’m some sort of a pariah or a traitor just to get into a viper pit. You’re right, what a vanity project. How’d you nail it?
Also fat shaming. Obviously my spine is fractured, and it’s in various states in between procedures, and you can’t really work out, so you put on weight. People will take that [to] innumerable fake Twitter accounts just to say, "You look so fat," "You’re so fat," "How come you’re so fat?" I don’t know how many men that happens to.
I personally wouldn’t forgive myself If I had the opportunity to make a difference and I didn’t do anything with that opportunity-[if] I just sat on the couch watching MSNBC all day and bitching to my friends.
We’ve never been perfect as Americans or as a country ever, but at least we were kind of trying. We were always trying to get better. And it’s almost like everything from Charlottesville, with everyone screaming with their tiki torches, to Mitch McConnell and Merrick Garland, it’s like we’re not even trying anymore. And that’s the bummer. And what worries me is if I can’t do this, with the time and resources that I have, what about every other American that would be incredible at public service? They don’t stand a chance.
I would love to see us go back to an America where the good guys aren’t penalized and where you’re not punished for doing the right thing and trying to help people. I would like that very much.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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