Harley Rouda

On October 25, Michael Bloomberg announced he would be supporting Rouda's campaign by donating $4 million to his PAC, Independence USA. That made Rouda's race against Rohrabacher the most expensive House race in the 2018 election cycle.

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 into a Democrat. 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.

He left the firm to join his family business, HER Realtors. He would rise to become general counsel of the company in 1997.

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 J. Trump in the California primaries. Due to these donations, he was criticized by Democrats as insufficiently loyal to the party or being a "Republican in disguise" during the campaign.

Following passage of the Ohio bar examination, Rouda worked at the law firm of Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP in Columbus, Ohio until 1990. As a lawyer, Rouda specialized in business with a focus on securities work, business formation, and intellectual property.

Rouda has been married since 1990 to author Kaira Sturdivant Rouda. They have four children. They moved to California after Rouda sold the family firm.

Harley Edwin Rouda Jr. (born December 10, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician from the state of California. A member of the Democratic Party, he serves in the United States House of Representatives from California's 48th congressional district, encompassing south-western coastal portions of Orange County including the cities of Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. He first ran for office in the 2018 elections, where he defeated 15-term incumbent Dana Rohrabacher.

Rouda was born December 10, 1961, in Columbus, Ohio, the son of Marlese Rouda and the late Harley Edwin Rouda Sr. He is the youngest of 4 children.