Few people have gotten under President Donald Trump’s skin quite the way New York Attorney General Letitia James has.
The Democratic attorney general has long been one of the president’s chief antagonists, suing the Republican’s administration more than 80 times since she took office in 2018 while becoming a frequent target of his ire on social media and at rallies.
Now, James has made her battles with Trump a central part of her campaign to win another four years in office.
“As I travel all throughout the state of New York and even the country, individuals thank me for standing up and protecting the interest of New Yorkers,” James said in an interview with Gothamist. “They thank me for recognizing that no one is above the law and that we do not bow to kings.”
But if she’s to win on Tuesday, she’ll have to overcome a challenge from Republican Saritha Komatireddy, a former federal prosecutor who has accused James of being “obsessed with national politics,” politicizing an office that should remain apolitical.
James, the former New York City public advocate who previously served as a city councilmember from Brooklyn, first rose to the attorney general’s office in the middle of Trump’s first term in 2018.
Since then, she has become a legal thorn in the president’s side.
Her lawsuits against the Trump administration — often leading a coalition of Democratic attorneys general from other states — have targeted the president’s actions on everything from immigration enforcement to Medicaid funding to housing grants.
She’s also targeted the president’s business, winning a civil fraud judgement against The Trump Administration in 2023 that found it engaged in a scheme to inflate the value of its real-estate holdings to obtain better rates on loans.
But the fraud judgement ultimately became a mixed bag for James. It initially came with a $500 million disgorgement penalty, which a mid-level appeals court later threw out in its entirety. (The case remains tied up in the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.)
Trump’s Department of Justice, meanwhile, tried to prosecute James for alleged mortgage fraud on a home occupied by a family member in Virginia. A court threw out the indictment.
James says her legal clashes with Trump are a sign that she’s willing to take on powerful people when their interests clash with those of New Yorkers. She said voters have responded warmly to her legal battles with Trump.
Komatireddy, meanwhile, has tried to keep the focus of her campaign on James, not the president.
The Republican has said she voted for Trump but has emphasized that she worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New York’s Eastern District under three presidents — Trump, Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She also served as chief of staff to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration under Biden.
“ I've always protected New York and protected Americans by working with Democrats and Republicans and for Democrats and Republicans,” Komatireddy said in an interview with Gothamist. “I have no problem doing that. Not everything has to be partisan.”
Komatiredddy said she would reorganize the Attorney General’s Office to have more of a focus on crime and fraud — two areas where she says James has been lacking.
“ This is just about having competent government,” she said. “People are tired of elected officials using the office for their own personal benefit instead of the benefit of New Yorkers, and I'm actually here to make New Yorkers' lives better for all of us.”
Komatireddy has experienced a fundraising bump following her lone debate with James earlier this month, when the Republican’s aggressive, direct critiques of James landed several clips that bounced around certain corners of the internet. Those clips were further boosted by Trump, who praised Komatireddy’s performance on his Truth Social platform without mentioning her by name.
In the 11 days following the debate, Komitareddy raised about $500,000, not counting public matching funds. In the three months prior to that, she raised about $700,000, according to state disclosure records.
“ I'm walking down the road in [the New York City Columbus Day] parade and people are reaching out to shake my hand, shouting out saying, ‘You did a great job. I'm voting for you,” Komatireddy said. “Someone came up to me and said, ‘Can I donate to your campaign?’”
James, meanwhile, says Komatireddy’s focus on street crime shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the job.
The Attorney General’s Office has traditionally focused on civil issues, not local crimes. Under James, that has included work obtaining financial settlements from opioid manufacturers and distributors for their role in the opioid crisis, as well as from Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta to settle claims that they intentionally got kids hooked on the social-media platforms.
Local district attorneys, on the other hand, are generally charged with prosecuting crimes like assault, theft, and drug trafficking.
“If she's interested in being a district attorney, I would urge her to pick one district attorney — there are 62 of them — and run against them,” James said.
Some legal experts are skeptical of Komatireddy’s pitch to use the attorney general’s office to prosecute more street crime, too.
“ You really do need local knowledge and experience in order to do that brand of policing and that brand of prosecuting,” said Steven Wasserman, a longtime criminal defense attorney who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “This is not a great idea.”
Ben Max, the program director at New York Law School's Center for New York City and State Law, said Komatireddy would have some “leeway” to follow through on her campaign promise if she were to be elected.
Max said Komatireddy could target organized crime that crosses jurisdictional boundaries. The attorney general can also follow up on referrals from state agencies and the governor’s office.
Regardless of its feasibility, Max argued Komatireddy’s creative pitch and disciplined messaging have propelled her from relative obscurity.
“She has undoubtedly made something of a name for herself coming out of nowhere in this race,” he said.
The early voting period runs through Sunday in New York. Election Day is Tuesday.
