Erika Harold | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Harold inSt. Louis, Missouri, in January 2014 | |
| Born | Erika Natalie Louise Harold (1980-02-20)February 20, 1980 (age 45) Urbana, Illinois, US |
| Education | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA) Harvard University (JD) |
| Title | Miss Illinois 2002 Miss America 2003 |
| Predecessor | Katie Harman |
| Successor | Ericka Dunlap |
| Political party | Republican |
Erika Natalie Louise Harold (born February 20, 1980) is an American attorney, politician, and formerMiss America.
Harold wasMiss Illinois 2002 and Miss America 2003. Her pageant platform was combating bullying. In 2014, she was a candidate in theRepublican primary for the13th Congressional District seat in the State of Illinois, ultimately losing the nomination to the incumbent,Rodney Davis.[1] In the2018 election, she was the Republican nominee forIllinois Attorney General.[2]
Harold was born inUrbana, Illinois. Herethnicity includesGreek, German and English on her father's side; and on her mother's side, bothNative American and African-American.[3]
She graduated from theUniversity of Illinois,Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in political science and was a Chancellor's Scholar.[4] In 2007, she received herJ.D. fromHarvard Law School, where she won best brief in theHarvard Ames Moot Court semi-final and final rounds of competition.[5][6] She has worked in Chicago, Illinois, as an associate attorney atSidley Austin LLP and at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella.[5] She later was a commercial litigation attorney for Meyer Capel law firm inChampaign, Illinois.[7][8] In 2022, she was appointed by theIllinois Supreme Court as executive director of the Commission on Professionalism.[8]
She becameMiss America 2003 on September 21, 2002 (asMiss Illinois 2002). Her official platform was "Preventing Youth Violence and Bullying: Protect Yourself, Respect Yourself." Her platform choice grew out of personal experience; she recounted having been the subject of racial and sexual harassment[9] while growing up. In a May 2, 2003, speech, Harold said when she turned to teachers and school administrators, her concerns were dismissed.[10] As part of her platform, she became a national spokesperson for Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national advocacy group.[11]
In the first week of her reign, she also adopted a secondary platform forsexual abstinence.[9]The Washington Times suggested that pageant officials demonstrated a liberal bias when they allowedMiss America 1998Kate Shindle, whose platform wasHIV prevention, to advocate condom distribution and needle exchange during her time as Miss America.[9] On October 8, 2002, Harold gave a speech at theNational Press Club in Washington during which she stated that she would talk about sexual abstinence and that she "will not be bullied" into dropping the topic from her platform.[12] Thirty-eight members of Congress sent her a letter of support, encouraging her to press on with her "healthy message of abstinence until marriage."[13] During her time as Miss America, Harold interacted with legislators and testified before Congress onbullying and abstinence, which provided her with additional motivation to pursue a political career.[14]
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Harold is aRepublican, and was the Youth Director for theRepublicanprimary campaign of Illinoisgubernatorial candidatePatrick O'Malley.[15] She later served as a delegate to the2004 Republican National Convention.[16] She gave a speech to the convention on August 31, 2004, to supportGeorge W. Bush'sfaith-based initiatives.[17] She worked on the Bush campaign to reach out to minority voters.[3]
In May 2012, Harold was one of four finalists for the Republican nomination for Congress in Illinois's 13th district, a nomination selected by the Republican chairmen of the 14 counties covered by the 13th Congressional District, instead of a primary election.[18] The Republican chairmen selectedRodney L. Davis, over Harold, and Davis was subsequently elected to Congress, in an expensive race.[7][19]
On June 4, 2013, Harold announced she would run against Rep.Rodney L. Davis, R-Ill. in the 2014 Republican primary forIllinois's 13th congressional district.[20][21] Davis, Harold's opponent in the primary, was among the top targets for Democrats in 2014.[22] On March 18, 2014, Harold lost the Republican primary to Davis 54%–41%.[23][24]
On August 15, 2017, Harold announced that she would seek the Republican nomination to be Illinois attorney general.[25] On March 20, 2018, she won the Republican nomination for attorney general garnering 59% of the vote in a two-way contest against Gary Grasso, a former mayor of Burr Ridge, IL, now a member of the DuPage County Board and a litigation attorney.[26] She lost the general election to DemocratKwame Raoul garnering 43% of the vote to his 55%.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Rodney L. Davis | 27,816 | 55 | |
| Republican | Erika Harold | 20,951 | 41 | |
| Republican | Michael Firsching | 2,147 | 4 | |
| Total votes | 50,914 | 100 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Erika Harold | 378,707 | 59.15 | |
| Republican | Gary Grasso | 261,509 | 40.85 | |
| Total votes | 640,216 | 100.0 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Kwame Raoul | 2,488,326 | 54.7 | ||
| Republican | Erika Harold | 1,944,142 | 42.7 | ||
| Libertarian | Bubba Harsy | 115,941 | 2.6 | ||
| Total votes | 4,548,409 | 100.0 | |||
| Democratichold | |||||
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Kristin Castillo | Miss Illinois 2002 | Succeeded by Michelle LaGroue |
| Preceded by | Miss America 2003 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forAttorney General of Illinois 2018 | Succeeded by Tom DeVore |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |