Erika Harold, a former Miss America who is running for Congress in Illinois, doesn't agree with former Secretary of State Colin Powell's assessment that the Republican Party has a "dark vein of intolerance" running through it.
Appearing on Fox News Channel's "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren" on Monday, Harold said intolerant people exist in all parts of society but don't speak for the majority.
"I think if you look in both parties you'll find people who express extreme views. But I don’t think either party would say that those opinions are reflective of the party broadly," Harold said.
Powell last month told
NBC's "Meet the Press" that some parts of the GOP still look down on minorities. Powell was the first African-American to serve as secretary of state and as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, under the two Bush presidencies.
Harold, who served as Miss America in 2003, is a Harvard Law School graduate seeking to unseat one-term Republican incumbent Rep. Rodney Davis. She would be the first black Republican woman to serve in Congress if elected in November.
She told Van Susteren she has not taken heat for being a Republican, though she was told to expect it. She was
mocked by a local GOP official, who compared her to a "street walker" in June.
Harold agreed with Powell that the Republican Party must do a better job of reaching out to minorities, women, and young people.
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