Erika Harold, a Harvard-educated lawyer and former Miss America, could make history in Illinois if she prevails in the Illinois attorney general’s race in November.
If that happened, it would mark the first time an African-American woman who is pro-life is elected to statewide office in Illinois.
Harold will face off against Kwame Raoul, a state legislator who eked out a victory Tuesday over former Gov. Pat Quinn in the Democratic primary for attorney general. Raoul has the blessing of powerful labor unions and state Democratic leadership.
While a win by Raoul would continue the upward trajectory of his career, a Harold victory would kick open the door for closeted black Republicans who were disappointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s inability to turn his campaign rhetoric into action.
Although both of these candidates are black, they could not be more different and are an example of the ideological diversity that exists among African-Americans.
Raoul, a corporate lawyer, was appointed to fill the seat of former President Barack Obama in 2004. He is the son of Haitian immigrants and is a lifelong resident of the Hyde Park/Kenwood area. He has been a loyal supporter of Lisa Madigan, who is leaving the attorney general’s office, and gave her an “A” grade at a recent forum.
Raoul says one of his priorities would be to strengthen the public access counselor position in the attorney general’s office to “eliminate the backlog in FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) and Open Meetings Act.”
Harold, who grew up in Urbana and went to an Ivy League college, has had to elbow her way through a party that is perceived as being unwelcoming to African-Americans. She handily defeated challenger Gary Grasso, a DuPage County Board Member, in Tuesday’s GOP primary.
Last month, Harold revealed that a GOP legislative candidate once asked if she was a “lesbo” and used the “n-word” in front of her several times. Bob Minor, the Winfield Township Republican chairman, accused Harold of “mischaracterizing” that conversation.
In 2013, Harold ran against Rodney Davis in the 13th Congressional District, but lost that race and the opportunity to be the first female African-American Republican in Congress.
Then it seemed as if the Republican Party was doing everything it could to thwart her attempts to join the ranks of elected GOP officials in Illinois.
“There was the ugly email from a GOP county chairman calling Harold ‘a streetwalker.’ The bizarre snub at the State Fair. The adamant rejection when she asked to use Republican voter data,” Politico Magazine reported.
However, this time around, Harold is running with strong monetary support, $305,000, the Chicago Tribune reported, from Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Illinois Republican Party.
Her opponent, Grasso, was unable to get much traction in this race given that much of the media spotlight was focused on the crowded Democratic field that included Sharon Fairley, who gained a fair amount of name recognition for reorganizing the Independent Police Review Authority in the wake of the Laquan McDonald police shooting scandal.
Former Gov. Quinn, who had the most name recognition in this race, seemed to fail to convince voters that he deserved another shot at a statewide office.
Harold said he would use the attorney general’s office to help draft legislation that would strengthen Illinois’ public corruption laws.
“In some instances, Attorney General Madigan has chosen not to use the full measure of the office’s existing powers to investigate allegations of public corruption — such as allegations of patronage hiring and improper awarding of government grants,” Harold said in response to questionnaire from the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board.
Raoul said as Illinois Attorney General, he would continue his work on criminal justice reform and “use the office’s bully pulpit,” and his role as “an advocate to urge passage of common sense provisions related to sentencing, probation and parole.
