This week, two former Miss Americas expressed a desire to bring their grace, poise, and class to the political arena. But beauty pageants have long been a breeding ground for future female politicians, and since some of the same characteristics—intelligence, public-speaking skills, ambition—are required for both kinds of popularity contests, it kind of makes sense. In honor of the latest pageant winners to get political, let’s take a look back at some other beauty queens-turned-politicos.
Miss America, 2003
Thirty-three-year-old Erika Harold announced this week that she plans to challenge Rep. Rodney Davis in the 2014 Illinois Republican primary. Among the accomplishments that Harold says make her a perfect candidate for Congress—along with her career as a health-care lawyer and service as a delegate at the 2004 Republican National Convention—is her Miss America victory in 2003. Harold entered the storied beauty pageant after graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Illinois with an acceptance letter from Harvard Law—but realized she couldn’t afford to go. With opera as her talent and both anti-bullying and abstinence from sex, drugs and alcohol as her platform, Harold took home the tiara and the scholarship money she needed.
Alex Wong/Getty
Miss America, 2000
Kentucky’s Heather French Henry, who was crowned Miss America in 2000, has also made clear that she’s considering a Senate bid. Henry, a Democrat, told The Hill Tuesday that she’s being nudged by members of her party to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014. “I’m not saying no yet, but I’m not saying yes,” she said, noting that while she’s very interested in politics, now might not necessarily be the right time for the working mother of two to start a campaign.
Patti Longmire/AP
Miss Wasilla, 1984
It was hardly a surprise to discover that the charming, ebullient woman John McCain chose as his running mate for the White House in 2008 had a background in pageantry. Long before competing for the vice presidency, Sarah Palin competed to be Miss Alaska. She took home the Miss Wasilla crown in 1984, but came in third for Miss Alaska, losing to Maryline Blackburn, who, oddly enough, ran unsuccessfully for the Georgia State Legislature in 2010.
AP
Jewish Miss America, 1945
In 1945 Bess Myerson became the first Jewish Miss America, after which she became active in New York City politics, serving first as commissioner of the Department of Consumer Affairs under Mayor John Lindsay, and later as Mayor Ed Koch’s campaign co-chair and then commissioner of cultural affairs. Often at his side at public events, many presumed that Koch was using Myerson as a prop to dispel rumors about his sexuality.
Jim Wells/AP
Miss Indiana, 1992
Shelli Yoder’s campaign for Congress was not as successful as her campaign for Miss Indiana, but the former beauty queen hasn’t given up on her political dreams. She now serves as a member of her local county council.
Cherry Blossom Princess
Both Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rep. Shelley Moore Capito matriculated through the national Cherry Blossom Princess, not exactly a beauty pageant but more of an educational and cultural-exchange sorority of sorts.
AP
Miss San Carlos
In 1977, Jennifer Granholm won the Miss San Carlos beauty pageant and that same year packed her bags and moved to L.A. to become an actress. But after a few appearances on The Dating Game and a gig as a Universal Studios tour guide, she decided to ditch Hollywood for Harvard Law School, eventually becoming the first female governor of Michigan in 2003.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Junior Miss
Before she became an influential women’s rights opponent, voting against 2009’s Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Paycheck Fairness Act and claiming, most recently, that women “don’t want” equal pay laws, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee was a beauty queen. Blackburn was a Junior Miss, a first runner-up for Miss United States Teen and Laurel, Mississippi’s Oil Festival Queen.
Brian Dowling/AP
