Harold Ford, Jr.

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"Harold Ford" redirects here. For his father, the congressman from Tennessee from 1975 to 1997, see Harold Ford, Sr.
Harold Ford, Jr.
Harold Ford, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 9th district
In office
1997-2007
Preceded by Harold Ford, Sr.
Succeeded by Steve Cohen
Born May 11, 1970
Memphis, Tennessee
Political party Democratic
Spouse single
Religion Baptist

Harold Eugene Ford, Jr. (born May 11, 1970) is the current chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee. Ford represented the state's 9th congressional district, centered on Memphis, from 1997 to 2007. Ford did not seek reelection to his House seat in 2006 when he unsuccessfully sought the Senate seat being vacated by the retiring Bill Frist. He is a member of the Democratic Party and was part of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Ford is the son of former Congressman Harold Ford, Sr. and Dorothy (nee Bowles).[1] He has three brothers—Jake, Isaac, and Andrew—and one sister, Ava [2]. His family has long been prominent in Memphis' black community; the Fords' influence dates back to the mid-20th century when E.H. Crump, a prominent white Democrat, dominated city and state politics and befriended N.J. Ford by ordering that all black deceased persons not otherwise directed by the family be sent to Ford Funeral Homes. [3].

Ford was baptized at his church, Mt. Moriah-East Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Double Tree Elementary School, a public school in Memphis, and he graduated from St. Albans School for Boys, a university-preparatory school in Washington, D.C.. He received a B.A. in American history from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1992. [4] Later, in 1992, he was a staff aide to the Senate Budget Committee, and in 1993 he was special assistant to the United States Department of Commerce. [5]

Ford received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996. During his campaign for the House of Representatives, he sat for and failed the Tennessee Bar Exam. He has publicly acknowledged that he intends to try again. [6]

[edit] House of Representatives

When Harold, Sr. decided not to seek a 12th term in Congress in 1996, Harold, Jr. wasted little time entering the race and instantly became the favorite in the Democratic primary--widely regarded as the real contest in the heavily Democratic, black-majority 9th. Ford arranged his schedule for his last semester at Michigan so he would not have Monday or Friday classes. [7] He was thus able to fly home to Memphis for an extended weekend each week to continue his campaign. As expected, he easily won the Democratic primary. He breezed to election in November, and was reelected four times without substantive Republican opposition by an average of 80% of the vote.[8] 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. [9]

After the 2002 elections resulted in Democrats losing Congressional seats, Ford announced his candidacy for House Democratic Leader, challenging then-House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, arguing that current leadership was ineffective.[10] Ford was defeated but exceeded initial expectations in terms of the amount of support he received.[11]A few pundits suggested that he might be nominated as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate in 2004; [12]. However, he was ineligible for the office, since his age would be four months shy of thirty-five on Inauguration Day (January 20, 2005).

In November 2005, when Ohio Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt implied that Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha was a "coward" in response to Murtha's proposal for a redeployment of American forces in Iraq, Ford charged across the House floor to the Republican side during the resulting uproar in the chamber, shouting "Say it to Murtha!" (or "Say Murtha's name!" depending on the source) while waving his finger at Schmidt. He had to be restrained by fellow Democrat Dave Obey of Wisconsin. Like many Democrats, Ford believed Schmidt's remarks (which she later withdrew) were an unwarranted "cheap shot" against Murtha, a veteran of the Marine Corps. [13]

In Congress, Ford had a relatively moderate voting record. He supported a ban on benefits for same-sex couples, as well as the Federal Marriage Amendment (which would ban same-sex marriage). He told Democrats they should be more supportive of the Iraq War and criticized Senate Democrats who attempted to filibuster Samuel Alito. He was one of the few Democrats who voted for the Bankruptcy Bill, and he supported some restrictions on abortion, defining himself as a "pro-life" candidate. However, he also opposed Bush's energy proposals (including oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), demonstrated support for adoption rights of same-sex couples, supports universal healthcare coverage, opposes the death penalty and indicated a willingness to reform illegal drug policy. [14] [15]

While in Congress, Ford supported a ban on intact dilation and extraction, called by its opponents, partial-birth abortion. He supports federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. [16][17]In addition, Ford sat on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services. He also served on the Transformation Advisory Group, a group of political, military and academic leaders who worked with the Department of Defense to assess the needs of the armed forces. Ford was a member of the New Democrat Coalition, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dog Coalition. [18] His popularity among white voters in the Memphis area steadily increased during his decade in Congress; in 2000, for instance, he won 40% of the white vote.[citation needed]

In 2006, Ford did not run for re-election to the House of Representatives, due to his campaign for the United States Senate in Tennessee, which he lost. Instead, his younger brother, Jake Ford, ran for the 9th district seat as an independent, but lost to Democrat Steve Cohen.[19]

[edit] 2006 Senate campaign

Harold Ford Jr. On The Campaign Trail
Harold Ford Jr. On The Campaign Trail
Main article: Tennessee United States Senate election, 2006

On April 6, 2005, during an interview on C-SPAN's call-in show Washington Journal, Ford confirmed that he would be running for the Senate. [20] He filed the papers necessary to officially begin his Senate campaign on May 25, 2005.

Democratic State Senator Rosalind Kurita briefly challenged Ford for the nomination but dropped out of the primary because of inadequate fundraising, effectively handing Ford the nomination.[21] On August 3, 2006, Ford overwhelmingly won the Democratic primary. After the primary, Ford's supporters held a large victory celebration at Nashville's LP Field. Among the speakers was former U.S. President Bill Clinton.[22]

Ford faced Republican Bob Corker in the November 2006 election. Not long after Corker's primary victory was assured, Ford challenged Corker to seven televised debates across the state. In response, Corker said he would debate Ford, though he did not agree to seven debates. [23]

Corker and Ford participated in a televised debate in Memphis on October 7[24], in Chattanooga on October 10[25], and in Nashville on October 28. [26] In January 2006, NBC's Meet the Press extended an open invitation for the candidates to debate on the nationally-televised show. Ford accepted the invitation, stating that "any weekend would work for him." The Corker campaign did not agree.[27]

On October 20, Ford confronted Corker while Corker was preparing for a press conference. [28] One month later, on November 8, Ford conceded to Corker and was declared the loser for the Senate seat; Corker defeated Ford by less than three percentage points.[1]

[edit] Post House of Representatives career

In December 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Ford told students at an L.A.-area school that he will likely run again in 2008 for the Senate seat currently held by Lamar Alexander. Later, Ford refused to either confirm or deny that he was planning to run in 2008, but in January 2007 said that he had no plans to challenge the incumbent.[29][30]

Ford has said that he "hopes to spend a lot of time at home, perhaps do some teaching and work with Governor Bredesen on some issues in Tennessee."[31] In January 2007, at the governor’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, Ford joined Bredesen and Department of Children’s Services commissioner Viola Miller in announcing the Governor’s Mentoring Initiative, which would provide all children in the custody of the state with an adult mentor.[32]

On January 25, 2007, Ford was named chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council.[33] Ford has also been appointed visiting professor of public policy at Vanderbilt University and teaches a class on American political leadership.[34] Later the same year, on February 14th, Merrill Lynch & Co. announced that Ford will join the financial services firm as a vice chairman and senior policy advisor on March 5.[35]

In early March of 2007, Fox News Channel hired Ford as a "political contributor".[36]

[edit] Controversies

"Harold, call me," says a blond woman in Republican National Committee's controversial attack ad against Ford.
"Harold, call me," says a blond woman in Republican National Committee's controversial attack ad against Ford.

A June 7, 2005 article in The Washington Times pointed out that from 1998 to 2003, Ford took 61 privately funded trips but did not file travel-disclosure forms with the House clerk for the trips as required by the chamber's ethics rules until August 2003. Ford's office called the late filing of the reports a "mere oversight," since Ford had filed the required financial-disclosure statements for the trips as they were taken.[37]

In October 2006, as polls indicated that Ford maintained a slight lead in the Senate race against Bob Corker, the Republican Party ran a television advertisement wherein a blonde white woman, played by Johanna Goldsmith, talks about meeting Ford, who is unmarried, at "the Playboy party."[38] The ad was denounced by many people, including former Republican Senator William Cohen, who called it “a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment.” Corker himself asked the Republican leadership to pull the ad, which it refused to do. Corker subsequently pulled ahead in the polls and went on to defeat Ford in the November election. Subsequently, conservatives claimed that controversies involving Ford's extended family would impact Ford's Senate campaign even though Ford does not appear to have been involved in any of the controversies himself.[39]

[edit] Electoral History

1996 General Election for U.S. House of Representatives (TN-09)

  • Harold Ford, Jr. (D), 61%
  • Roderick DeBerry (R), 37%

1998 General Election for U.S. House of Representatives (TN-09)

  • Harold Ford, Jr. (D) (inc.), 79%
  • Claude Burdikoff (R), 19%
  • Gwendolyn L. Moore (I), 1%

2000 General Election for U.S. House of Representatives (TN-09)

  • Harold Ford, Jr. (D) (inc.) 100%
  • No Opposition

2002 General Election for U.S. House of Representatives (TN-09)

  • Harold Ford, Jr. (D) (inc.), 84%
  • Tony Rush (I), 16%

2004 General Election for U.S. House of Representatives (TN-09)

  • Harold Ford, Jr. (D) (inc.), 82%
  • Ruben M. Fort (R), 18%

2006 Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate (TN)

2006 General Election for U.S. Senate (TN)

[edit] See also

"30 Something" Working Group

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.wargs.com/political/fordh.html
  2. ^ http://www.house.gov/ford/about/index.shtml
  3. ^ http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050801/NEWS0201/508010361/1010/NEWS02/
  4. ^ http://www.house.gov/ford/about/index.shtml
  5. ^ http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=F000262
  6. ^ http://www.metropulse.com/dir_zine/dir_2004/1423/t_cover.html
  7. ^ http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/harold_fords_ri.php
  8. ^ http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/08/harold_fords_ri.php
  9. ^ http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/08/16/ford.speech/index.html
  10. ^ http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021125&s=lizza112502
  11. ^ http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/11/14/democrats.leadership/
  12. ^ http://www.nationalreview.com/miller/miller200402120825.asp
  13. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10118733/site/newsweek/
  14. ^ http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Harold_Ford.htm
  15. ^ http://www.fordfortennessee.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34
  16. ^ http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Harold_Ford.htm
  17. ^ http://www.fordfortennessee.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34
  18. ^ http://www.house.gov/ford/about/index.shtml
  19. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4892409,00.html
  20. ^ http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=harold+ford+senate&image1.x=0&image1.y=0&image1=Submit
  21. ^ http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_83648.asp
  22. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4892535,00.html
  23. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4892535,00.html
  24. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_5051668,00.html
  25. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_5057333,00.html
  26. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4973610,00.html
  27. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4973610,00.html
  28. ^ http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=5568609
  29. ^ Richard Locker, Another Senate seat might tempt Ford, The Commercial Appeal, December 11, 2006
  30. ^ "Ford says he has no plans of a Senate bid against Alexander", WMCTV.com, Associated Press, 2007-01-23. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
  31. ^ "Corker sworn in as U.S. Senator", Associated Press, Jan 4, 2007 04:11 PM CST. Retrieved on Jan. 7, 2007
  32. ^ http://my.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070116/MICRO021301/70116029
  33. ^ DLC bio on Ford, retrieved January 25, 2007.
  34. ^ http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases/2007/1/15/harold-ford-jr-to-be-visiting-professor-of-public-policy-at-vanderbilt-congressional-veteran-to-teach-class-on-political-leadership
  35. ^ Keoun, Bradley,Merrill Hires Former U.S. Congressman Ford as Adviser, Bloomberg.com, February 14, 2007.
  36. ^ http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A25473
  37. ^ http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050607-121908-6262r.htm
  38. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15403071
  39. ^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local_news/article/0,1426,MCA_437_4328413,00.html
Preceded by
Harold E. Ford, Sr.		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 9th congressional district
1997–2007		 Succeeded by
Stephen I. Cohen
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../h/a/r/Harold_Ford%2C_Jr._20e4.html"
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