Harrold Ford history

After his father announced his retirement from the House in 1996, Ford ran to succeed him in the district encompassing the bulk of Memphis, Tennessee.

The same year that the elder Ford announced that he would not seek a twelfth term in office, Harold Ford Jr. completed the requirements for his law degree and graduated from the University of Michigan School of Law in 1996.

After the 2002 mid term elections resulted in Democrats losing Congressional seats, Ford announced his desire to be House Minority Whip based on Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s charge that the democratic leadership was less than competent.

In 2005, Ford Jr. had been re-elected to Congress several times and sought to become the first African-American elected to the United States Senate from the South since Reconstruction.

3Jonathan Darman, "The Path to Power," 30 October 2006, Newsweek: 4.

In October 2006, as polls indicated that Ford maintained a slight lead in the Tennessee Senate race against Bob Corker, the National Republican Party ran a controversial television advertisement featuring a blonde woman who claimed to have met Ford, who is single, at a Playboy Club Party.

Bucking tradition, Ford did not seek reelection to his House seat in 2006 and instead unsuccessfully sought the Senate seat that was being vacated by the retiring senator Bill Frist.

Moreover, he was one of the few Democrats who voted in support of the 2006 Bankruptcy Bill.