Letitia James, a longtime New York City politician with ties to both the state\u2019s underclass and its elites, beat three other candidates in a Democratic primary for attorney general, then turned her sights on the man she saw as her real opponent: President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis campaign was really never about me, or any of the candidates who ran,\u201d James told supporters at her Thursday victory party in Brooklyn. \u201cIt was about the people, but most importantly it was about that man in the White House who can\u2019t go a day without threatening our fundamental rights, can\u2019t go a day without threatening the rights of immigrants, can\u2019t go a day without dividing us.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the 59-year-old former public defender, history is at stake, too. She would become the first black woman to hold a statewide elected office in New York if she prevails in the general election, where she will be heavily favored.<\/p>\n
She would also become the first woman elected attorney general, though not the first to hold the job. The current attorney general, Democrat Barbara Underwood, was appointed after Trump nemesis Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, abruptly resigned in May amid allegations he physically abused women he dated. Underwood declined to run for election.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a historic moment, it shows that there\u2019s room for all of us at the table,\u201d James supporter Michelle Gilliam said. \u201cAs a black woman, Tish elevates and inspires black women everywhere. I\u2019ve been following her career since the beginning and watching her progress has been a beacon of hope for me and all women of this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
James defeated a deep field of fellow Democrats: U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout and former Hillary Clinton adviser Leecia Eve. She said she wouldn\u2019t let campaign rivalries get in the way of their friendships or impede their ability to work together to keep Trump in check.<\/p>\n
New York\u2019s attorney general has long had an unusual role as a regulator of Wall Street and an occasional prosecutor of the rich and powerful. The office also recently opened an investigation of sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church. But in this contest, Trump emerged as the common foe among all the candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the middle of a fight to save our democracy,\u201d she said. \u201cLet\u2019s party tonight and then we\u2019ve got some work to do tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winner in November will inherit several pending lawsuits filed by the state that challenge Trump\u2019s policies and accuse his charitable foundation of breaking the law.<\/p>\n
James faces little-known New York City lawyer Keith Wofford, who ran unopposed in the Republican primary, in the general election in November.<\/p>\n
Wofford, in a statement, criticized James as a \u201ccareer politician\u201d who will \u201cuphold the corrupt status-quo.\u201d He pitched himself as an \u201cindependent outsider\u201d and said he\u2019d do what\u2019s in the state\u2019s best interests.<\/p>\n
James served as New York City\u2019s elected public advocate after a decade on the City Council and stints as a public defender and assistant attorney general. She was an early favorite in a race that tightened over the summer, picking up endorsements from Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and several powerful unions. Rapper Nicki Minaj plugged her on Twitter the night before the election.<\/p>\n
As public advocate, James said she transformed the office from its traditional role as an ombudsman on issues of public concern to a \u201cmini-legal services slash attorney general\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p>\n
She lobbied for police officers to wear body cameras and for special prosecutors to be appointed in police misconduct cases. Her office maintains a list of the \u201cworst landlords\u201d in the city and has pushed to expand tenant protections.<\/p>\n
James entered her victory party to the sounds of a DJ playing \u201cAll the Way Up\u201d by Fat Joe and Remy Ma. She dedicated her victory to \u201cevery little girl who has been told she cannot change the world\u201d and singled out an 87-year-old supporter who cast her first vote decades ago in the Jim Crow south.<\/p>\n
Underwood congratulated the candidates in a tweet before the polls closed for showing they \u201cbelieve in the power of this office\u201d and for giving voters \u201ca choice for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the events of this year, I hope it is clear to everyone that this office is the sum of all its staff,\u201d Underwood tweeted. \u201cI am so proud to be your AG.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s lawyers have argued that the attorney general\u2019s office was unfairly politicized under Underwood and Schneiderman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Letitia James, a longtime New York City politician with ties to both the state\u2019s underclass and its elites, beat three other candidates in a Democratic primary for attorney general, then turned her sights on the man she saw as her real opponent: President Donald Trump. \u201cThis campaign was really never about me, or any of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42104"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42106,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42104\/revisions\/42106"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}