Erika Harold
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 20, 1980
Miss America 2003
Erika Harold | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Harold in St. Louis, Missouri, in January 2014 | |
| Born | Erika Natalie Louise Harold February 20, 1980 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 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]
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
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]
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