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Erika Harold

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Erika Harold
Harold in St. Louis, Missouri, in January 2014
Born
Erika Natalie Louise Harold

(1980-02-20) February 20, 1980 (age 44)
Urbana, Illinois, US
EducationUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA)
Harvard University (JD)
TitleMiss Illinois 2002
Miss America 2003
PredecessorKatie Harman
SuccessorEricka Dunlap
Political partyRepublican

Erika Natalie Louise Harold (born February 20, 1980) is an American attorney, politician, and former Miss America.

Harold was Miss Illinois 2002 and Miss America 2003. Her pageant platform was combating bullying. In 2014, she was a candidate in the Republican primary for the 13th Congressional District seat in the State of Illinois, ultimately losing the nomination to the incumbent, Rodney Davis.[1] In the 2018 election, she was the Republican nominee for Illinois Attorney General.[2]

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Sign for Urbana, Illinois honoring Harold

Harold was born in Urbana, Illinois. Her ethnicity includes Greek, German and English on her father's side; and on her mother's side, both Native American and African-American.[3]

She graduated from the University of Illinois, Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in political science and was a Chancellor's Scholar.[4] In 2007, she received her J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she won best brief in the Harvard Ames Moot Court semi-final and final rounds of competition.[5][6] She has worked in Chicago, Illinois, as an associate attorney at Sidley Austin LLP and at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella.[5] She later was a commercial litigation attorney for Meyer Capel law firm in Champaign, Illinois.[7][8] In 2022, she was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court as executive director of the Commission on Professionalism.[8]

Pageants

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Miss America 2003 Erika Harold at a news conference at the National Press Club discussing her campaign to fight youth violence in 2002

She became Miss America 2003 on September 21, 2002 (as Miss 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 for sexual abstinence.[9] The Washington Times suggested that pageant officials demonstrated a liberal bias when they allowed Miss America 1998 Kate Shindle, whose platform was HIV prevention, to advocate condom distribution and needle exchange during her time as Miss America.[9] On October 8, 2002, Harold gave a speech at the National 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 on bullying and abstinence, which provided her with additional motivation to pursue a political career.[14]

Politics

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Miss America 2003 Erika Harold
Harold at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014

Harold is a Republican, and was the Youth Director for the Republican primary campaign of Illinois gubernatorial candidate Patrick O'Malley.[15] She later served as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention.[16] She gave a speech to the convention on August 31, 2004, to support George W. Bush's faith-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 selected Rodney L. Davis, over Harold, and Davis was subsequently elected to Congress, in an expensive race.[7][19]

2014 congressional campaign

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See also: 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois § District 13

On June 4, 2013, Harold announced she would run against Rep. Rodney L. Davis, R-Ill. in the 2014 Republican primary for Illinois'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]

2018 campaign for Illinois attorney general

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See also: 2018 Illinois Attorney General election

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 Democrat Kwame Raoul garnering 43% of the vote to his 55%.

Electoral history

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Illinois's 13th congressional district Republican primary results, 2014[23]
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
Illinois Attorney General election, 2018 Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Erika Harold 378,707 59.15
Republican Gary Grasso 261,509 40.85
Total votes 640,216 100.0
Illinois Attorney General election, 2018
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
Democratic hold

References

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  1. ^ "Former Miss America Erika Harold joins Congressional race in Illinois". The Washington Times. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  2. ^ ABC 7 News. "Erika Harold wins GOP Attorney General nomination, Kwame Raoul leads Democrats". Retrieved March 20, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Ury, Faryl. Miss America Visits HRC, The Harvard Crimson, February 14, 2005.
  4. ^ "Erika N. L. Harold". meyercapel.com. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Press Release. Firm Welcomes New Associate, Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C., February 1, 2011.
  6. ^ Zhou, Kevin. Justice Kennedy Presides at Law School, Law students face Supreme Court justice in Moot Trial Competition, The Harvard Crimson, November 15, 2006.
  7. ^ a b Lowe, Kenneth. GOP candidate Erika Harold says she will stress 'conservative values', Bloomington-Normal Pantagraph, June 6, 2013.
  8. ^ a b "Erika Harold Appointed as Executive Director of Commission on Professionalism". 2civility.org. March 22, 2022. Retrieved May 5, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Riscol, Lara. Miss America's stealth virginity campaign Archived June 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine, Salon, October 28, 2002.
  10. ^ Erika Harold, Miss America 2003, National Press Club Luncheon Speaker – May 2, 2003, National Public Radio, May 2, 2003.
  11. ^ "Boston.com / News / Nation / Effects of bullying aren't confined to childhood, study finds". archive.boston.com. Retrieved November 17, 2016.
  12. ^ Miss America resists pressure to silence abstinence message Archived March 15, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Baptist Press, October 9, 2002.
  13. ^ Carmon, Irin. There She Is, Inside the year of the Harvard beauty queen, The Harvard Crimson, September 25, 2003.
  14. ^ Friedman, Hilary Levey. Here She Comes, Miss (Elected) America, Slate, June 26, 2012.
  15. ^ Plenty of Republican Lt. Governor choices exist for 2014 Archived March 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, Illinois Conservatives, February 13, 2013.
  16. ^ Griffy, Leslie. Ex-Miss America a delegate to GOP convention, Chicago Sun-Times, January 12, 2004, page 6
  17. ^ Tartakoff, Joseph M. HLS-Bound Beauty Queen Boosts Bush, The Harvard Crimson, September 13, 2004.
  18. ^ Pallasch, Abdon M. Former Miss America in running for Downstate GOP congressional nomination, Chicago Sun-Times, May 8, 2012.
  19. ^ Sabella, Jen. Erika Harold, Former Miss America, Considering GOP Bid For U.S. House (PHOTOS), Huffington Post, April 24, 2012.
  20. ^ Blake, Aaron. Former Miss America Erika Harold launches congressional run, The Washington Post, June 4, 2013.
  21. ^ Linares, Veronica. "Miss America 2003 to run for Congress Illinois". UPI. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  22. ^ Camia, Catalina. Ex-Miss America Erika Harold begins Congress campaign, USA Today, June 4, 2013.
  23. ^ a b Official Illinois State Board of Elections Results Archived January 28, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ Cahn, Emily (March 18, 2014). "Ann Callis, Rodney Davis to Face Off in Targeted Illinois District". Roll Call. Retrieved March 19, 2014.
  25. ^ "Urbana's Harold announces bid for attorney general". August 15, 2017.
  26. ^ Illinois Attorney General Election Results, Chicago Sun-Times, March 20, 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Erika Harold.
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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 for Attorney General of Illinois
2018 		Succeeded by
Tom DeVore
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