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Harley Rouda
Harley Edwin Rouda Jr. (born December 10, 1961) is an American attorney, businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 48th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He was the first Democrat to represent the district, which encompasses southwestern coastal portions of Orange County including the cities of Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. He was defeated for reelection by Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel in 2020.
Rouda first ran for office in the 2018 election, when he defeated 15-term Republican incumbent Dana Rohrabacher. Following his departure in 2020, Rouda considered running for Congress in the 2022 elections, but later announced he would not seek any public office that cycle.
On January 11, 2023, Rouda announced his candidacy for California's 47th congressional district, the House seat to be vacated by incumbent Katie Porter. Three months later Rouda announced he was ending his campaign, citing health concerns.
Rouda was born December 10, 1961, in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Marlese Rouda and the late Harley Edwin Rouda. He was raised in Upper Arlington and graduated from Upper Arlington High School.
Rouda received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Kentucky in 1984, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. He also earned a Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School in 1986 and Master of Business Administration from Ohio State University in 2002.
Following passage of the Ohio bar examination, Rouda worked at the law firm of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP in Columbus, Ohio until 1990. He later left the firm to join his family business, HER Realtors, and eventually served as CEO of Trident Holdings, the parent company of HER Realtors.
Rouda says he was raised in a "traditional Republican household." He was a registered Republican until 1997, when he left the party and became an independent because he felt the Republican Party had been moving in the "wrong direction" on social issues. Rouda says the last Republican he voted for was Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election. He switched his party affiliation to the Democratic Party after the 2016 election. Shortly before registering as a Democrat, Rouda donated to the John Kasich 2016 presidential campaign. Kasich would suspend his campaign shortly before he was defeated by Donald Trump in the California primary. Due to these donations, he was criticized by Democrats as insufficiently loyal to the party or being a "Republican in disguise" during the campaign, to which Rouda responded, “we gave … because they are personal friends – not because he is someone who I share a political ideology with – and because I wanted to stop Donald Trump and his divisive campaign.”
On March 2, 2017, Rouda announced his candidacy for U.S. Representative from California's 48th congressional district, challenging the incumbent, Dana Rohrabacher, shortly after changing his party registration from no party preference to Democratic. His primary opponent, Hans Keirstead, was endorsed by the Democratic Party of California at the party convention. Rouda received the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsement in May 2018. In the nonpartisan blanket primary election, Rouda secured the second spot over Keirstead on the ballot by 125 votes (from a total of 174,024), thus allowing him to face Rohrabacher in the general election.
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Harley Rouda
Harley Edwin Rouda Jr. (born December 10, 1961) is an American attorney, businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 48th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. He was the first Democrat to represent the district, which encompasses southwestern coastal portions of Orange County including the cities of Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. He was defeated for reelection by Orange County Supervisor Michelle Steel in 2020.
Rouda first ran for office in the 2018 election, when he defeated 15-term Republican incumbent Dana Rohrabacher. Following his departure in 2020, Rouda considered running for Congress in the 2022 elections, but later announced he would not seek any public office that cycle.
On January 11, 2023, Rouda announced his candidacy for California's 47th congressional district, the House seat to be vacated by incumbent Katie Porter. Three months later Rouda announced he was ending his campaign, citing health concerns.
Rouda was born December 10, 1961, in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Marlese Rouda and the late Harley Edwin Rouda. He was raised in Upper Arlington and graduated from Upper Arlington High School.
Rouda received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Kentucky in 1984, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta social fraternity. He also earned a Juris Doctor from Capital University Law School in 1986 and Master of Business Administration from Ohio State University in 2002.
Following passage of the Ohio bar examination, Rouda worked at the law firm of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP in Columbus, Ohio until 1990. He later left the firm to join his family business, HER Realtors, and eventually served as CEO of Trident Holdings, the parent company of HER Realtors.
Rouda says he was raised in a "traditional Republican household." He was a registered Republican until 1997, when he left the party and became an independent because he felt the Republican Party had been moving in the "wrong direction" on social issues. Rouda says the last Republican he voted for was Bob Dole in the 1996 presidential election. He switched his party affiliation to the Democratic Party after the 2016 election. Shortly before registering as a Democrat, Rouda donated to the John Kasich 2016 presidential campaign. Kasich would suspend his campaign shortly before he was defeated by Donald Trump in the California primary. Due to these donations, he was criticized by Democrats as insufficiently loyal to the party or being a "Republican in disguise" during the campaign, to which Rouda responded, “we gave … because they are personal friends – not because he is someone who I share a political ideology with – and because I wanted to stop Donald Trump and his divisive campaign.”
On March 2, 2017, Rouda announced his candidacy for U.S. Representative from California's 48th congressional district, challenging the incumbent, Dana Rohrabacher, shortly after changing his party registration from no party preference to Democratic. His primary opponent, Hans Keirstead, was endorsed by the Democratic Party of California at the party convention. Rouda received the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee endorsement in May 2018. In the nonpartisan blanket primary election, Rouda secured the second spot over Keirstead on the ballot by 125 votes (from a total of 174,024), thus allowing him to face Rohrabacher in the general election.