Morgan Harper (born July 1, 1983) is an American attorney, community organizer, and political candidate. After working as a senior advisor at the

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mo ...

, in 2020 she campaigned against incumbent Joyce Beatty to represent

Ohio's 3rd congressional district Ohio's 3rd congressional district is located entirely in Franklin County and includes most of the city of Columbus. The current district lines were drawn in 2011, following the redistricting based on the 2010 census. It is currently represent ...

, which includes

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

, in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

. Also in 2020, she founded the non-profit Columbus Stand Up. In

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

she ran for the United States Senate to succeed Rob Portman. She lost in the Democratic Primary to congressman Tim Ryan 69-17%.

Early life and education

Born in Columbus, Ohio on July 1, 1983, Harper lived in a foster home for nine months before being adopted by a public school teacher. Raised in Columbus, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

and a Juris Doctor degree from

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

. She later earned a Master of Public Affairs from the

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of comprehensive course ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

Career

Harper worked for three years at the

, serving as a senior advisor to director

Richard Cordray Richard Adams Cordray (born May 3, 1959) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the COO of Federal Student Aid in the United States Department of Education. He served as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFP ...

under

President Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. Afterwards, she served as vice president of knowledge management and strategy for the

Local Initiatives Support Corporation The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is a US non-profit community development financial institution (CDFI) that supports community development initiatives across the country. It has offices in nearly 40 cities and works across 2,100 r ...

. In 2020, Harper founded Columbus Stand Up. After organizing volunteers to drive voters to polls, in 2021 Columbus Stand Up began donating masks and transporting Columbus residents to get COVID-19 vaccines.

2020 congressional campaign

On July 1, 2019, she challenged Democratic incumbent Joyce Beatty to represent

, which includes most of Columbus. Endorsed by

Justice Democrats Justice Democrats is an American progressive political action committee founded on January 23, 2017, by former leaders from the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign Saikat Chakrabarti and Zack Exley, as well as political commentators Kyl ...

in August 2019, she was endorsed by the Sunrise Movement in December 2019 and the

Working Families Party The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Ne ...

in February 2020. Harper raised $323,000 during the campaign's first quarter, with her platform focused on "

universal child care Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

, tuition-free public college, Medicare for All,

reparations Reparation(s) may refer to: Christianity * Restitution (theology), the Christian doctrine calling for reparation * Acts of reparation, prayers for repairing the damages of sin History *War reparations **World War I reparations, made from G ...

affordable housing Affordable housing is housing which is deemed affordable to those with a household income at or below the median as rated by the national government or a local government by a recognized housing affordability index. Most of the literature on af ...

, and a

Green New Deal Green New Deal (GND) proposals call for public policy to address climate change along with achieving other social aims like job creation and reducing economic inequality. The name refers back to the New Deal, a set of social and economic refo ...

." On April 29, 2020, it was announced that Beatty had won the primary, with Harper earning 32% of 66,000 votes.

2022 U.S. Senate election

In August 2021, Harper declared her candidacy for 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio. Harper faced Congressman Tim Ryan and two other candidates in the Democratic primary. Her campaign ad "My Ohio Story" was released on April 4, 2022 and claimed that she has been the only candidate who always supported "Medicare for all", a "$15 minimum wage", and "supports expanding the Supreme Court." She lost to Ryan in the Democratic Primary 69-17%.

Personal life

Harper lives in Columbus, Ohio.

Electoral history

References

External links

Morgan Harper for SenateMorgan Harper articles
at WOSU radio {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Morgan 1983 births 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women African-American women in politics American adoptees Living people Ohio Democrats People from Columbus, Ohio Politicians from Columbus, Ohio Tufts University alumni Candidates in the 2022 United States Senate elections