Christopher Herrod

Early life, education, and business career

Born in Chicago, Herrod has a B.A. in International Relations and Family Living (1990), and a Master's degree in Organizational Behavior (1992), both from Brigham Young University. He spent 1992-1993 as an Assistant Professor at Kharkov State University; in 1995-1996, he served as an instructor and advisor at Utah Valley State College's Kiev affiliate, the Kiev College of Hotel Management. From 1997-1998, he was international marketing director of Neways. After a brief stint at Merck (1998–99), Herrod went into real estate development, as owner/manager of Keystone Developers and Pangaea Development. He has also served as adjunct faculty in international business at Utah Valley University.

Utah House of Representatives

In 2007, incumbent State Representative Jeff Alexander decided to resign from his seat to take a part-time volunteer job in Governor Jon Huntsman Jr.'s economic development office. For the Republican nomination, Provo Republican delegates narrowed the field to two candidates: John Curtis and Chris Herrod. No candidate reached the 60% threshold to avoid an appointment. Governor Jon Huntsman wasn't the person who appoints a candidate, the party leader does. Utah Republican Party Chairwoman Enid Greene decided to appoint Chris Herrod to the seat, even though he didn't reach the 60% threshold and that he got fewer delegate votes than Curtis.

Committee assignments

For the 2009-2010 session, he was assigned to the House Public Utilities and Technology Committee; and to the House Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development Committee, of which he was Vice Chair.

2008 Utah House of Representatives race

In 2008, he defeated Democrat Claralyn Hill, a Provo attorney, 59%-41%. In 2010, he won re-election with 69% of the vote.

2012 U.S. Senate race

In January 2012, was one of several candidates to announce that he would run for the U.S. Senate election in Utah and would challenge incumbent Orrin Hatch for the Republican nomination. He said "I absolutely hate the direction that we are going in as a nation. I hate socialism." It was Hatch's first primary competition since his election in 1976. Hatch won the primary election easily. Consequently, Herrod did not make it to the general election.

2016 Utah State Senate race

In 2016, Herrod was defeated in the primary against incumbent Curt Bramble in the Utah State Senate District 16 race.

2017 U.S. House of Representatives race

In 2017, Herrod ran in the special election for Utah's 3rd congressional district to replace Republican Jason Chaffetz, who resigned on June 30. Thirteen days prior to Chaffetz's resignation, on June 17, Herrod emerged victorious in the Republican convention. Lawyer Tanner Ainge and Provo Mayor John R. Curtis, the latter of whom also competed in the convention, received enough voter signatures to face Herrod in the August 15 primary, where Herrod was defeated by Curtis, garnering 31.1% of the vote with 91% of precincts reporting, to Curtis's 40.5% and Ainge's 28.3%.

Personal life

During his teenage years he travelled to Vienna, Hungary, and then-divided Berlin. He is a Mormon, and did his missionary service in Sweden. He is married to Alia, whom he met while in Ukraine; they have four children (Katya, Niles, Dale, and Reagan). Herrod is a scoutmaster, and an active fencer. In March 2010 he self-published a 186-page book called, The Forgotten Immigrant - How Tolerating Illegal Immigration Hurts Immigrants, under the imprint Live Free Publishing, LLC.