When Harold Sr. decided not to seek a 12th term in Congress in 1996 , Harold Jr. entered the race and became the favorite in the Democratic primary , which was widely regarded as the real contest in the heavily Democratic , black-majority 9th district . Ford arranged his schedule for his last semester of law school so he would not have Monday or Friday classes and would be able to fly home to Memphis for an extended weekend each week to continue his campaign . As was expected , he easily won the Democratic primary , followed by his election in November . Taking office at the age of 26 , he was one of the youngest members of Congress in US history and the youngest in the 105th and 106th Congresses . He was reelected four times without substantive Republican opposition , by an average of 80 percent of the vote . In 2000 , Ford was the keynote speaker for the 2000 Democratic National Convention supporting then Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic nomination for President
2000 Democratic National Convention
2000 Democratic National Convention
Harold Ford Jr.