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

Miss Illinois The Miss Illinois is a pageant program affiliated with Miss America, which is competition for women models representing the state of Illinois. The first "Miss Illinois" sent to the national pageant was Lois Delander who subsequently won the Mi ...

2002 and Miss America 2003. Her pageant platform was combating bullying. In 2014, she was a candidate in the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

primary for the 13th Congressional District seat in the State of Illinois, ultimately losing the nomination to the incumbent, Rodney Davis. In the 2018 election, she was the Republican nominee for

Illinois Attorney General The Illinois Attorney General is the highest legal officer of the state of Illinois in the United States. Originally an appointed office, it is now an office filled by statewide election. Based in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois, the attorne ...

Background and legal career

Harold was born in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the 38th-most populous municipality in Illinois. It ...

. Her ethnicity includes

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, German and English on her father's side; and on her mother's side, both Native American and African-American.Ury, Faryl
Miss America Visits HRC
''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

'', February 14, 2005. She graduated from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

with a B.A. in political science and was a Chancellor's Scholar. 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. She has worked in Chicago, Illinois, as an associate attorney at

Sidley Austin LLP Sidley Austin LLP is an American multinational law firm with approximately 2,000 lawyers in 20 offices worldwide. The firm's headquarters is at One South Dearborn in Chicago's Loop. The firm specializes in a variety of areas in both litigatio ...

and at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella.Press Release
Firm Welcomes New Associate
Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella, P.C., February 1, 2011. She later was a commercial litigation attorney for Meyer Capel law firm in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...

. In 2022, she was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court as executive director of the Commission on Professionalism.

Pageants

She became Miss America 2003 on September 21, 2002 (as

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 harassmentRiscol, Lara
Miss America's stealth virginity campaign
, '' Salon'', October 28, 2002. while growing up. In a May 2, 2003, speech, Harold said when she turned to teachers and school administrators, her concerns were dismissed.Erika Harold, Miss America 2003, National Press Club Luncheon Speaker – May 2, 2003
''

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

'', May 2, 2003. As part of her platform, she became a national spokesperson for Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national advocacy group. In the first week of her reign, she also adopted a secondary platform for

sexual abstinence Sexual abstinence or sexual restraint is the practice of refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity for medical, psychological, legal, social, financial, philosophical, moral, or religious reasons. Sexual abstinence is distinct from ...

The Washington Times ''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughou ...

suggested that pageant officials demonstrated a liberal bias when they allowed

Miss America 1998 Miss America 1998, the 71st Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 13, 1997 and was televised by the ABC Network. ABC replaced NBC as the pageant's television home. Results Place ...

Kate Shindle Katherine Renee Shindle (born January 31, 1977) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and AIDS activist. She is currently serving as the President of the Actors' Equity Association. She was Miss America 1998 in 1998 and Miss Illinois in 1997. ...

, whose platform was

HIV prevention HIV prevention refers to practices that aim to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV prevention practices may be undertaken by individuals to protect their own health and the health of those in their community, or may ...

, to advocate condom distribution and needle exchange during her time as Miss America. On October 8, 2002, Harold gave a speech at the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

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. Thirty-eight members of Congress sent her a letter of support, encouraging her to press on with her "healthy message of abstinence until marriage." 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.

Politics

Harold is a

, and was the Youth Director for the

primary campaign of Illinois

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

candidate Patrick O'Malley. She later served as a delegate to the

2004 Republican National Convention The 2004 Republican National Convention took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of historic quadrennial meetings at which the Republican candidates fo ...

. She gave a speech to the convention on August 31, 2004, to support

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

faith-based initiatives The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, formerly the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (OFBCI) is an office within the White House Office that is part of the Executive Office of the Presiden ...

. She worked on the Bush campaign to reach out to minority voters. 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.Pallasch, Abdon M
Former Miss America in running for Downstate GOP congressional nomination
''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'', May 8, 2012. The Republican chairmen selected Rodney L. Davis, over Harold, and Davis was subsequently elected to Congress, in an expensive race.Lowe, Kenneth
GOP candidate Erika Harold says she will stress 'conservative values'
'' Bloomington-Normal Pantagraph'', June 6, 2013.

2014 congressional campaign

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 The 13th congressional district of Illinois is currently represented by Democrat Nikki Budzinski. Redistricting 2020 redistricting Following the 2020 census and the subsequent redistricting cycle, the 13th congressional district was signifi ...

. Davis, Harold's opponent in the primary, was among the top targets for Democrats in 2014. On March 18, 2014, Harold lost the Republican primary to Davis 54%–41%.Official Illinois State Board of Elections Results

2018 campaign for Illinois attorney general

On August 15, 2017, Harold announced that she would seek the Republican nomination to be Illinois attorney general. 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.Illinois Attorney General Election Results
Chicago Sun-Times, March 20, 2018. She lost the general election to Democrat

Kwame Raoul Kwame Raoul (, born September 30, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician who has been the 42nd Attorney General of Illinois since 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Raoul represented the 13th district in the Illinois Senate from ...

garnering 43% of the vote to his 55%.

Electoral history

References

External links

*
Erika Harold biography
* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Harold, Erika 1980 births African-American Christians African-American people in Illinois politics American people of German descent American people of Greek descent American people of Russian descent American people of Welsh descent American women lawyers American lawyers Harvard Law School alumni Illinois Republicans Living people Miss America 2003 delegates Miss America winners People from Urbana, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni Women in Illinois politics African-American beauty pageant winners Black conservatism in the United States Beauty queen-politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women