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 Republican, and was the Youth Director for the Republican primary campaign of Illinois gubernatorial candidate Patrick O'Malley. She later served as a delegate to the 2004 Republican National Convention. She gave a speech to the convention on August 31, 2004, to support George W. Bush's faith-based initiatives. 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. The Republican chairmen selected Rodney L. Davis, over Harold, and Davis was subsequently elected to Congress, in an expensive race. 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. 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%. 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. She lost the general election to Democrat Kwame Raoul garnering 43% of the vote to his 55%. Electoral history References External links Erika Harold biography |- |- 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