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. In the 2018 election, she was the Republican nominee for Illinois Attorney General.
Background and legal career
thumb|left|120px|Sign for [[Urbana, Illinois honoring Harold]]
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.
She graduated from the University of Illinois, Phi Beta Kappa 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 and at Burke, Warren, MacKay & Serritella. She later was a commercial litigation attorney for Meyer Capel law firm in Champaign, Illinois. In 2022, she was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court as executive director of the Commission on Professionalism. while growing up. In a May 2, 2003, speech, Harold said when she turned to teachers and school administrators, her concerns were dismissed. 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. 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
thumb|[[Miss America 2003 Erika Harold]]
thumb|right|Harold at the [[Conservative Political Action Conference in 2014]]
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. 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%.