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. He left the firm to join his family business, HER Realtors. He would rise to become general counsel of the company in 1997.
Earlier political career
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.
On March 2, 2017, Rouda announced his candidacy for U.S. Representative from, 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, thus allowing him to face Rohrabacher in the general election. 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 November 6, the election was too close to call, as Rouda held a narrow lead over Rohrabacher. Rouda's lead soon expanded, and the Associated Press called the race for Rouda on November 10.
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.
