Miss America 2003 to run for Congress Illinois

Erika Harold, who was crowned Miss America in 2003, announced Tuesday that she will be running for Congress in Illinois' 13th district.

Harold, a 33-year-old Republican will run against Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Ill., in next year's primary.

"A lot of people share conservative principles but don't vote for Republican candidates because they have a certain idea of who those people are," Harold told CBSNews.com after her announcement. "I'm African-American, I'm relatively young and I'm a woman. I'm the kind of person who can defy those stereotypes and share what our party is really about."

The former beauty queen, who graduated from Harvard Law, is currently an attorney in Champaign, Ill., CBS reported. But despite the fact that this would be her first time running for office, she's not a Capitol Hill newbie. Harold was a convention delegate for President George W. Bush in 2004 and for Patrick O'Malley, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in 2002.

According to Harold, she plans on investing her life working for causes greater than herself.

"I found the moments in my life when I felt most fully alive, and most in the center of what I felt called to do, is those moments when I focused not on myself but rather on meeting the needs of others," she said.