GOP NY AG candidate Saritha Komatireddy loses spirited campaign against controversial Dem Letitia James
Former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy failed to unseat controversial two-term Democratic state Attorney General Letitia James on Tuesday despite a spirited campaign, early results showed.Follow for live updates on the 2026 Midterm ElectionsJames declared victory alongside other statewide Democrats, including Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and Gov.Kathy Hochul, at the Hilton hotel in Midtown, Manhattan.“We’ve fought for every New Yorker without fear or favor and tonight New Yorkers have told us loud and clear they want Tish James to finish the job,” she told the crowd, referring to herself in the third person.“We will continue to stand up, fight back and defend our values.”As of 10:35 p.m., with 67% of the votes counted, James had 63% of the vote to Komatireddy’s 37%.The surprisingly strong Republican challenger repeatedly hammered James for politicizing her office and backing the state’s soft-on-crime criminal justice system, blaming her for failing to stand up for victims.But it wasn’t enough to beat James, who cruised to a third term after a campaign in which the longtime adversary of President Trump’s ran as part of the Empire State’s lefty Democratic machine, campaigning with both Hochul and socialist New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.Hochul and DiNapoli, the longtime state comptroller, also easily secured victory Tuesday night, making for a full sweep for Dems on the top of the ticket in the state.James, the first black woman elected to statewide office in New York, won despite a slew of controversies, including a lawsuit by whistleblower Daniel Wiesenfeld, a former prosecutor in her office, who claimed he was ordered to dig up dirt on Trump and his pals despite no evidence of a crime.At a debate last month, Komatireddy labeled James a “political hack” for her prosecution against Trump, while James resorted to repeatedly calling the GOP challenger a “Trump puppet.”“The laws are broken and Letitia James broke them,” Komatiredd...