When asked at a debate this month to name the top five donors to her attorney general campaign, Republican Erika Harold said she couldn’t identify them.
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“Obviously I have received support from the party, and I am very proud to receive support of the party,” she said, adding she “couldn’t say an exact amount.”
There was one precise figure, though, that Harold offered: $305,000 she received a day earlier from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, leading the moderator to ask her whether she could be independent from the governor.
“I have a record of already standing up for the things that I think are right and opposing him,” Harold said. “And that’s a record, so if you wanna heckle in the audience, you can look and see my record.”
The exchange highlighted a double-edged sword facing Harold as she runs against DuPage County Board member Gary Grasso. Big contributions from Rauner and the state party he funds help get her message out amid a noisy primary election season. But the money also allows Grasso to question her ability to act independently of a governor who has alienated conservatives.
Rauner has said he “personally recruited” Harold to run for the seat being vacated by Democrat Attorney General Lisa Madigan, an endorsement that’s provided Grasso with a key line of attack. The former Burr Ridge village president has accused Harold of softening her stances on several controversial issues, saying she has avoided criticizing Rauner for signing laws to expand taxpayer funding of abortion and provide protection for immigrants living in Illinois illegally.
“The semblance of impropriety seems to be there, looking at being beholden to the governor,” said Grasso, who is self-funding his campaign.
For her part, Harold said she criticized Rauner the day he signed the bill and she’s “an independent person, and I make independent choices.”
“I have been unflinching in being willing to stand up to people within my own party when I thought it was necessary,” she said.
As of last month, the overwhelming majority of Republican voters – 65 percent – were undecided between Harold and Grasso, according to a poll conducted by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University. Harold was favored by 18 percent of voters to Grasso’s 14 percent, a gap that falls within the poll’s margin of error.
While the eight Democrats seeking the job have gotten much of the attention on the airwaves and in public debates, the race between Harold and Grasso has remained relatively low-key. They’ve appeared at just a few public events together. Both say they want to focus on rooting out corruption, contending that Madigan, the daughter of House Speaker Michael Madigan, has let that effort go by the wayside.
Harold is best known for winning the Miss America pageant in 2003 and using the scholarship to attend Harvard Law School. Addressing a crowd of about 60 people during a recent Lincoln Day Dinner in Menard County, Harold used the pageant win to showcase herself as self-made, saying the experience gives a sense of her “core values.”
“So, I announced my candidacy for attorney general in August of 2017, and exactly one month to the date, Lisa Madigan announced that she was no longer seeking re-election after all,” Harold said at the dinner. “What that means is we have one Madigan down, and one more Madigan to go.”
An incident that brought a lot of attention to Harold is when she said last month that Winfield Township GOP Chairman Burt Minor asked her if she was a “lesbo” and repeatedly used the N-word when he met with her after she launched her statewide candidacy. He said “It was in no way meant to be offensive.”
“He said, ‘Are you married?’ I said I’m not. He said, ‘Have you ever been married?’ I said no. And he said, ‘Well then, are you a lesbo?’” Harold said.
“I told him I was not. But I also made clear that in our party, someone’s sexual orientation should not be used to disqualify them from running for public office,” she said.
Harold works for a Champaign-based firm where she specializes in business law. She has been eyeing elected office for several years, losing a Downstate Republican primary for Congress to U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville in 2014.
At the time, Harold didn’t have the backing of the party establishment. She said then that she did not support marijuana legalization and was against abortion rights.
She now says the state should “explore” legalization of marijuana, saying she believes it’s “inevitable” and may help address the state’s opioid crisis. She remains opposed to abortion rights and points to both issues as proof that she’s willing to split from Rauner.
The governor does not support legalization of recreational pot, and he angered conservatives when he signed legislation last year that would expand the availability of taxpayer-funded abortions for state employees and Medicaid patients.
Harold’s stance against same-sex marriage has served as a flashpoint in her bid to be the state’s chief legal officer. According to the book “Being Miss America: Behind the Rhinestone Curtain” by former Miss America Kate Shindle, Harold’s “ultra-conservative views” had kept her from winning the Miss Illinois pageant for several years.
Shindle writes that Harold was asked in a pageant interview about adoption by same-sex couples. “Harold reportedly stated that she would choose to place a child in an abusive heterosexual home rather than with a loving gay couple,” the book says.
Harold’s campaign said she does not remember those comments, and she said, “I strongly support same-sex adoption and I strongly support same-sex parenting.”
Even so, Grasso criticized her over the book’s accusation.
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“She said that she would put a kid in harm’s way with known child abusers, to be what?” Grasso said. “Physically abused? Mentally abused? Sexually abused? Certainly permanently harmed. That’s her choice? You can’t excuse that with someone who wants to represent the values of Illinois.”
He’s also questioned Harold’s qualifications to be attorney general, noting he’s been licensed to practice law in Illinois for nearly 40 years and has held several elected positions.
“I bring the credentials, I bring the experience, and therefore I’m going to be the better advocate for the people in dealing with many of the problems we have,” Grasso said in an interview with the Tribune.
Grasso said his priority would be looking into the Cook County property tax assessment system, saying he would investigate it, file lawsuits where necessary and work with the legislature to limit conflicts of interest.
Grasso has funded the bulk of his campaign by lending himself roughly $351,500, saying it demonstrates his level of dedication and independence. He, however, has faced questions regarding his own campaign fund. State election officials said he must pay a $7,500 fine for reporting two contributions too late.
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