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

Letitia James Letitia Ann James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the current Attorney General of New York, having won the 2018 election to succeed appointed Attorney General Barbara Und ...

, a Democrat, 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 years ...

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 her 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 lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative from from 2013 to 2023. The district includes Newburgh, Beacon, and Poughkeepsie. A member of the Democratic Party, Maloney ...

, U.S. Representative for New York's 18th congressional district; and

Zephyr Teachout Zephyr Rain Teachout (, born October 24, 1971) is an American attorney, author, political candidate, and associate professor of law at Fordham University. In 2014, Teachout ran for the Democratic Party nomination for governor of New York and lo ...

, 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 lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...

in the concurrent gubernatorial election as well as Franklin, Clinton,

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

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

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 sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

, Broome, Cortland and

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Yo ...

counties. As of 2021, this along with the concurrent comptroller election and senate election is the last time Franklin, Cortland and

counties have voted Democratic.

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 weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issue ...

'' 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 two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

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 has confirmed that she will 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 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 governor is elected on a ticket wit ...

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. The office serves as a direct link between the electorate and city governmen ...

(nominee of the state party convention) *

, U.S. Representative for

New York's 18th congressional district The 18th congressional district of New York is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives that contains the northern suburbs and exurbs of New York City. It is currently represented by Democrat Sean Patrick Malone ...

, 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 located in New York's Catskills and mid- Hudson Valley regions. It lies partially in the northernmost region of the New York metropolitan area and mostly south of Albany. This district is currently re ...

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 * Michael Gianaris, New York State Senator *

Kathleen Rice Kathleen Maura Rice (born February 15, 1965) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the United States representative for New York's 4th congressional district. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Before serving in Congress, Rice s ...

, U.S. Representative from New York's 4th congressional district * Barbara Underwood, interim Attorney General *

Tim Wu Timothy "Tim" Shiou-Ming Wu (born 1972) is a Taiwanese American legal scholar and official in the Biden Administration tasked with Technology and Competition policy. He was also a professor of law at Columbia University and a contributing opinio ...

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

Charles D. Lavine Charles D. Lavine (born August 14, 1947) is a member of the New York State Assembly, representing the 13th district, which includes portions of the towns of North Hempstead and Oyster Bay in Nassau County. First elected in 2004, Lavine is a ...

, 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 Assem ...

Endorsements

Polling

Results

Turnout: 28.08%

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

* Keith Wofford, co-managing partner of

Ropes & Gray Ropes & Gray LLP is a global law firm with 13 offices located in the United States, Asia and Europe. The firm has more than 1,500 lawyers and professionals worldwide, and its clients include corporations and financial institutions, government agen ...

's New York City office (designated party nominee) Wofford grew up in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

and attended

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

on scholarship.

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 lawyer and politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. An attorney by profession, Pataki was elected mayor of his hometown of Peekskill, New York, and went ...

* John Katko, U.S. Representative * John DeFrancisco, Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate

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 on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U.S ...

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, 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-born American lawyer, author, podcaster and former federal prosecutor who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2009 to 2017. He is current ...

, 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 organization for unarmed crime prevention. Sliwa was the Republican nominee for the ...

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.

References

External links

New York Attorney General election, 2018
at

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;Official campaign websites
Letitia James (D) for Attorney GeneralKeith Wofford (R) for Attorney GeneralChristopher Garvey (L, REF) for Attorney General
{{New York elections

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

New York Attorney General elections

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...