Running for state attorney general is often seen as a stepping stone to higher office. To the point that political wags quip the “AG” role stands for “aspiring governor.”
But brewing fights over state abortion laws, how to conduct elections, and other hot-button issues have turned attorney general races into top-tier midterm elections contests.
There are 30 attorney general seats on the ballot in 2022, and several are attracting media coverage and candidate spending traditionally reserved for statewide contests such as senator and governor.
Voters are hiring their top law enforcement figures not just for traditional roles such as bringing lawsuits to stop corporate monopolies and trying to institute or fight environmental regulations. And Republicans say they’re primed for pickups in attorney general races. Particularly with persistently low approval ratings for President Joe Biden amid the worst inflation in 40 years and high gas prices.
“As we’ve seen over the last two years, Republican AGs are the only thing standing between Americans and the radical progressive agenda — including defunding the police and overreaching government mandates that affect everything from education to energy — being pushed by President Biden and Democrats in Congress,” Peter Bisbee, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association, told the Washington Examiner.
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But Democrats contend the Supreme Court’s June 24 Dobbs decision is now front and center in many attorney general contests. The ruling declared that there is no constitutional right to abortion and sent the issue back to the states to decide.
“Abortion is a top issue in many of our races. We have several Democratic incumbents working to protect reproductive rights and abortion access,” Geoff Burgan, communications director for the Democratic Attorneys General Association, told the Washington Examiner.
The abortion issue has helped put the Georgia attorney general’s race on the national radar, in September earning a “competitive” rating from Sabato’s Crystal Ball, out of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. Republican Attorney General Chris Carr is drawing criticism from Democrats for working to enforce Georgia’s six-week abortion ban. On Nov. 8, Carr faces Democratic nominee Jen Jordan, a state senator and attorney.
The attorney general race is likely to draw a heavy turnout as Georgia voters are also making choices for governor, senator, secretary of state, and other races.
Jordan “is running a really strong race in that campaign, and Carr is on the defensive,” Burgan said.
Beyond public policy issues, the way that elections are conducted also has become a central issue in attorney general races. Former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was “rigged” or “stolen” have seeped into several attorney general contests.
In Michigan, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is defending her seat against Republican nominee Matt DePerno, a western Michigan attorney and first-time candidate who was involved in efforts to overturn Biden’s 2020 win in the Wolverine State.
In Arizona, the attorney general’s office is open because incumbent Mark Brnovich is term-limited. But Brnovich is a cautionary tale for Republicans who cross Trump over election fraud claims. Brnovich lost a Senate GOP primary bid on Aug. 2 after becoming a Trump target for being insufficiently aggressive, in the former president’s view, about rooting out voter fraud and other irregularities in 2020 balloting. A report Brnovich issued on April 6 found no evidence of widespread voter fraud or irregularities in Maricopa County, Arizona’s population base and the central locale for election-related conspiracies by Trump supporters.
The Republican attorney general nominee is attorney Abe Hamadeh, a former prosecutor in the Maricopa County District Attorney’s Office. Hamadeh has firmly aligned himself with Kari Lake and Mark Finchem, the Arizona GOP’s nominees for governor and secretary of state, respectively, who have both repeatedly rejected the results of the 2020 election. Hamadeh has also pledged to “prosecute the crimes of the rigged 2020 election” if elected and has seemingly endorsed efforts to “decertify” his state’s 2020 presidential electors.
Hamadeh is locked in a tight contest, according to polls, with Democratic nominee Kris Mayes, a former state corporation commissioner. Mayes is touting her bipartisan appeal, having been a member of that regulatory body as a Republican from 2003-2011 who also worked for former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, a Democrat.
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“Arizona is a very independent place,” said Burgan, from the Democratic attorneys general group. Hamadeh’s “extreme Trump brand of politics does not win in Arizona.”
Bisbee, the Republican attorneys general group head, said voters in those contests are likely to vote on other issues.
“The woke Left wants to limit our Second Amendment rights, Washington bureaucrats are pushing unconstitutional environmental regulations, and Big Tech companies are censoring free speech,” Bisbee said. “But rest assured, in the new year, Republican AGs will continue their pursuit to protect Americans from these harmful policies and practices.”
