URBANA - Tuesday morning, Miss America 2003 Erika Harold of Urbana, Illinois, will announce that she's challenging freshman Republican Congressman Rodney Davis (IL-13) in 2014.
Harold's announcement has been rumored for a while, but with the aid of two of former Congressman Tim Johnson's staffers - Mark Sheldon and John Dykstra - it appears she's been in the process of setting up a campaign for a while. It was noted in a recent Springfield political column that she'd moved back home to Urbana from Chicago, and she's signed up to work at the Meyer-Capel Law Firm in Urbana.
After various failed attempts to confirm from Harold, we found confirmation on the Facebook page of Joan Dykstra, the wife of former Congressman Tim Johnson's staffer John Dykstra Monday afternoon. Illinois Review spoke with several prominent Republicans in the area, and no one from the Harold campaign had yet contacted them. Each expressed disappointment that had not happened.
No word from Davis in response yet.
