Harold Ford Jr., the Fox News political contributor who is a part of a rotating cast on Fox and Friends, was once a Memphis staple in the political sphere.
Ford is a member of the long-time Memphis political family, many of whom have held, or currently hold, elected office.
While Ford is no longer an elected official representing Memphis, he did spend much of his time in the late 90s and early 2000s in Washington, D.C., representing the area in Congress.
So, who is Harold Ford Jr.?
Ford is a former Democratic U.S. Congressman who represented the Memphis area in the District 9 seat from 1997 to 2007. The seat is now held by Memphis Democrat Steve Cohen.
Ford’s father, Harold Ford Sr., held the District 9 seat from 1975 to 1997. Because his father was a sitting Congressman, Ford was educated in Washington, D.C. at St. Albans School.
Ford graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992 with a bachelor’s in American History and later went on to obtain his law degree from the University of Michigan.
Prior to his role as a congressman, Ford worked as a staff aid in the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget and as a special assistant in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Ford was elected to his father’s seat in 1997, after Ford Sr.’s retirement, making him not only one of the youngest Congressmen at 26 years old, but also the first Black representative to succeed a parent in Congress.
During his time as a Congressman, Ford served on the Budget, Education and the Workforce, Financial Services, Government Reform and Oversight committees.
In 2006, Ford ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee and lost to Republican Bob Corker by three percentage points.
Ford’s father, former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., is currently married to Michelle Roberts.
Ford’s mother is Dorothy Bowles Ford.
Yes, Ford is married to Emily Threlkeld.
In 2011, Ford was hired by the investment banking firm Morgan Stanley.
In 2018, Ford made headlines in multiple news outlets that claimed he was fired for harassment and abuse after it was announced he was terminated from the position. The HuffPost reported the company had investigated claims of harassment and intimidation.
Morgan Stanley later clarified that Ford was fired for violating company policies.
According to previous Commercial Appeal reporting, a Jan. 11, 2018 exposé by The New York Times quoted anonymous executives as saying an internal investigation by the Wall Street bank didn’t find proof he sexually harassed a woman. Rather, he was fired in December for allegedly misleading executives and abusing his expense account, among other misconduct, according to the executives.
He was named vice chairman for corporate and institutional banking at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in December of 2020, according to previous reporting from The CA.
Brooke Muckerman is a political reporter for The Commercial Appeal, covering the city of Memphis, Shelby County Government and MSCS Board of Education. She can be reached at brooke.muckerman@commercialappeal.com and via phone at 901-484-6225.
