Don’t Forget About Races For Attorney General
Tonight, it’s worth watching to see whether the much-vaunted “blue wave” reaches state attorney general offices. This year, Democrats are hoping to nab more state attorney general seats as they’ve proved strikingly effective in opposing President Trump’s agenda. Blue-state attorneys general have sued the Trump administration over a wide range of issues —environmental regulations, birth control, and the plan to add a citizenship question to the Census, to name a few — and they’ve already started to rack up victories.
Now, Democrats are running on the explicit platform of suing the Trump administration in several states this year. In Florida, Sean Shaw has promised to investigate Trump’s businesses in the state; in Colorado, Phil Weiser says he’ll combat the president’s policy agenda on immigration and environmental regulations, and in Michigan, Dana Nessel has said she’ll also use the position of attorney general to “fight back” against Trump.
As my colleague Nathaniel Rakich and I wrote last month, Republicans currently control 27 state attorney general offices to Democrats’ 22 (one is an independent), which means the balance of power could shift if Democrats win even a few contests. Check out our piece for the full list of competitive races (as of late October).