The 2018 New York Attorney General election took place on November 6, 2018. New York City Public Advocate

Letitia James Letitia Ann "Tish" James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2019 as the 67th Attorney General of New York, attorney general of New York (NYAG), having won the 2018 New York Attorney General election, 2018 ...

, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

, was elected. James is the first woman and the first African-American to be elected New York Attorney General. Former attorney general

Eric Schneiderman Eric Tradd Schneiderman (born December 31, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 65th attorney general of New York from 2011 until his resignation in May 2018. Schneiderman, a member of the Democratic Party, spent ten year ...

resigned on May 8, 2018, after allegations of domestic abuse and withdrew from his then-ongoing reelection campaign. Incumbent solicitor general Barbara Underwood was chosen by the legislature to complete the unexpired term, but opted not to seek election to a full term. On September 13, 2018, James won the Democratic nomination for attorney general, defeating Leecia Eve, former senior policy advisor to U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton;

Sean Patrick Maloney Sean Patrick Maloney (born July 30, 1966) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development from 2024 to 2025. He served as the U.S. representative from from ...

, U.S. Representative for New York's 18th congressional district; and Zephyr Teachout, professor at Fordham University School of Law. In the general election, James defeated Republican Party candidate Keith Wofford with over 60% of the vote. In the general election, James carried every county won by

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( , ; born December 6, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 until his resignation in 2021. A member of the Democratic Party and son of former governor Mario Cuomo, ...

in the concurrent gubernatorial election as well as

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

, Clinton,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

Duchess Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

, Columbia, Broome, Cortland and

Schenectady Schenectady ( ) is a City (New York), city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the United States Census 2020, 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-most populo ...

counties.

Background

Attorney General

, a Democrat, was first elected to the office of Attorney General in 2010, winning reelection in 2014. He was in the midst of campaigning for a third term in office when on May 7, 2018, ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' revealed allegations that he had physically abused several women he had dated during his tenure in office. Schneiderman resigned hours after the story was released, with the resignation taking effect at the end of the business day May 8; he did not seek re-election. Barbara Underwood, the solicitor general, took on the duties of Attorney General upon Schneiderman's resignation. A joint session of the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the Bicameralism, two houses that act as the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York: the New York State Senate and the New York State Assem ...

formally appointed Underwood to fill the rest of Schneiderman's term on May 22, after interviewing several potential candidates; of the 209 members in the State Legislature, 190 votes were cast in favor, with one ( Charles Barron) voting against her in protest of the process, and 18 abstaining. Underwood confirmed that she would not run for the office in the 2018 elections, and returned to her previous position as solicitor general following the election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Filed

The following candidates were certified by the State Board of Elections as having filed for the primary ballot (James by state convention nomination and the others by submitting sufficient signatures): * Leecia Eve, former senior policy advisor to U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, candidate for

Lieutenant Governor of New York The lieutenant governor of New York is a Constitution of New York, constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governo ...

in 2006 *

New York City Public Advocate The office of New York City Public Advocate (President of the City Council) is a citywide elected position in New York City, which is first in line to succeed the Mayor of New York City, mayor. The office serves as a direct link between the wikti ...

(nominee of the state party convention) *

, U.S. Representative for

New York's 18th congressional district New York's 18th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in New York (state), New York’s Hudson Valley that contains some of the northern suburbs and exurbs of New York City. It is cur ...

* Zephyr Teachout, Fordham Law Associate Professor, nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in

New York's 19th congressional district New York's 19th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives located in New York (state), New York’s Catskill Mountains, Catskills, Hudson Valley, greater Capital District (New York), Capit ...

in 2016, candidate for Governor of New York in 2014

Withdrew

, former attorney general

Declined

* Daniel Garodnick, former member of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

* Michael Gianaris, New York State Senator * Charles D. Lavine, Member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

Kathleen Rice Kathleen Maura Rice (born February 15, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States representative for New York's 4th congressional district from 2015 to 2023. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before servi ...

, U.S. Representative from

New York's 4th congressional district New York's 4th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives in central and southern Nassau County. It is represented by Democrat Laura Gillen. NY-04 is the second- wealthiest congressional ...

* Barbara Underwood, interim Attorney General *

Tim Wu Timothy Shiou-Ming Wu (born 1971 or 1972) is a Taiwanese-American legal scholar who served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy at the United States from 2021 to 2023. He is also a professor of law at Colum ...

, special enforcement counsel to the attorney general and 2014 lieutenant governor primary candidate

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Turnout: 28.08%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Keith Wofford, co-managing partner of Ropes & Gray's New York City office (designated party nominee)

Withdrew

*Manny Alicandro, corporate attorney from Manhattan (ended Attorney General campaign in May 2018 to run for Comptroller) * Joe Holland, former Commissioner of the New York Department of Housing and Community Renewal (defeated for Republican nomination; endorsed Republican nominee Keith Wofford)

Declined

*John P. Cahill, Republican nominee for attorney general in 2014 and former aide to Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...

* John DeFrancisco, Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate *

John Katko John Michael Katko (; born November 9, 1962) is an American attorney and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New York's 24th congressional district, based in Syracuse, from 2015 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he ...

, U.S. Representative

Endorsements

Qualified third parties

Conservative

Conservative Party of New York State The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running only on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to ...

chairman Michael R. Long indicated the party would cross-endorse the Republican nominee for attorney general. *Nominee: Keith Wofford

Working Families

Nominee:

. The party endorsed both Letitia James and Zephyr Teachout prior to the September 13 primary election. Kenneth Schaefer, who was nominated as the Working Families Party's

dummy candidate A dummy candidate is a candidate who stands for election, usually with no intention or realistic chance of winning. Purposes A dummy candidate can serve any of the following purposes: * In instant-runoff voting, a dummy candidate may direct p ...

, withdrew by October 9 in favor of Democratic nominee Letitia James.

Independence Party

Nominee:

. Victor J. Messina Jr., the original nominee, withdrew by October 9 as well.

Green Party

Nominee: Michael Sussman

Reform

On May 20, 2018, the

Reform Party of New York State The Reform Party of New York State was the New York branch of the Reform Party of the United States of America. The branch was founded in 2000 after the Independence Party of New York, which had been affiliated with the national Reform Party fro ...

authorized four candidates to run for attorney general in its September 13, 2018 primary: *

Preet Bharara Preetinder Singh Bharara (; born October 13, 1968) is an Indian American lawyer and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. As of 2025, he is a partner at the ...

, former U.S. Attorney (declined) *Michael Diederich Jr. *Christopher B. Garvey, Libertarian Party nominee and perennial candidate *Nancy Regula, animal rights activist and wife of party chairman

Curtis Sliwa Curtis Sliwa (; born March 26, 1954) is an American activist, radio talk show host, and founder and chief executive officer of the Guardian Angels, a nonprofit crime prevention organization. Sliwa was the Republican Party (United States), Republ ...

Results

Other third parties

Libertarian

*Christopher B. Garvey

General election

Polling

Results

Letitia James (D) went on to easily win the election, with 62% of the vote versus Wofford's (R) 35%. James became the first woman and the first African-American to be elected New York Attorney General.

By congressional district

James won 23 of 27 congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans, with the remaining 4 going to Wofford, including one that elected a Democrat.

References

External links

New York Attorney General election, 2018
at

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Official campaign websites *
Keith Wofford (R) for Attorney General
* {{New York elections

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New York Attorney General elections

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