ALBANY, N.Y. — One of New York’s most high-profile politicians is running one of its lowest-profile statewide reelection campaigns.
To top it off, Attorney General Tish James, who in her first term nabbed national headlines for taking on former president Donald Trump and former governor Andrew Cuomo, has turned down a debate with her Republican opponent, the only statewide elected official in New York to do so.
James, who has been in office since 2019, may not need the exposure. But declining the debate gives her Republican critics an easy opening as they bash elected Democrats for concerns about rising crime that appear to be resonating with the state’s voters with just days before Election Day on Tuesday.
“The only threat to democracy is candidates like Letitia James who refuse to debate,” GOP candidate Michael Henry said in a Monday statement after James officially turned down a request from Spectrum NY1, which has hosted debates for governor, U.S. Senate and comptroller this cycle.
Even Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is seeking his fifth, six-year term, debated his little-known opponent Joe Pinion.
“Letitia James cannot run from her record even if she runs from a debate,” Henry continued, pointing to James’ support of the controversial bail laws that critics say are contributing to public safety concerns. “The voters will hold her accountable and they will Dismiss Tish on November 8th.”
The race against Henry, a Queens attorney with name recognition in the single digits, has appeared to be James’ to lose since she dropped her primary challenge to Gov. Kathy Hochul in December.
She is backed by all of the state’s top Democrats in a state where the party has a 2-1 enrollment advantage. In addition to the continued Cuomo and Trump sagas, she has rolled out regular updates on how she’s distributing settlement funds for opioid treatment and prevention, taken guns off the street, sued the National Rifle Association andstopped Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli.
James reported spending about $2.1 million in the most recent filing period, which covers most of October, and still has $970,000 in her account a week out from Election Day. That’s compared to Henry’s $102,000 spent, with about $197,000 left in the bank.
Still, the most recent polling from Siena College Research Institute last month showed James’ lead over Henry has fallen to 11 points, largely due to Henry’s better polling among New York’s large swath of independent voters, which outnumber Republicans in the state.
One longtime James adviser said that James is campaigning, but has not gotten much attention because Democrats have — until the past few weeks — broadly been expected to sail to victory across the ticket. Now no one’s very sure.
“Tish and her campaign are focused on the race and absolutely not taking anything for granted in this environment,” the adviser said, talking on the condition of anonymity as to not speak on behalf of the campaign.
James is not known to love the traditional campaign trail — it was one of the reasons even her closest advisers said shebowed out of the governor's race.
She largely avoids unnecessary glad-handing or unscripted media appearances. She has granted few interviews on her reelection bid this year, including requests from POLITICO. A recent interview with Teen Vogue detailed her decision to share that she had an abortion following the May news the U.S. Supreme Court was expected to overturn Roe v. Wade.
In another interview last month with WGRZ-TV in Buffalo, James suggested she would be open to reconsidering New York's controversial bail laws, which raised eyebrows among her supporters and was seized upon by Republicans.
James regularly brings energy to parades, rallies, local and state events, often without anticipatory media advisories. But her campaign has highlighted just a handful of events for her reelection bid, such as a child care rally in March, a campaign kick-off rally at the beginning of April and a speech to the Democratic Rural Conference at the end of that month.
She rallied with LGBTQ+ supporters in June and released an ad last monthreviewing her four years in office as “The People’s Lawyer" — but didn't mention Trump nor Cuomo, whose damning report on his sexual harassment of former female aides led him to resign in August 2021.
More recently, she has stepped out with Hochul and other Democrats as the days dwindle to Election Day and state Democrats have begun to sweat about Republican surges. She'll appear Thursday with Vice President Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Hochul for a get-out-the-vote women's rally in Manhattan.
Hochul and James have said they are united as the governor, and the state’s top lawyer can be — and have often appeared onstage together — but James has never formally announced an endorsement for Hochul.
A relatively low-key campaign might not be what some expected after a fiery speech at the state Democratic conventionin February, where she ripped into Cuomo and vowed “I will not bow, I will not break, and I will not be bullied by him or Donald Trump.”
James has embraced her role as Trump's opponent since first running for the office in 2018, but it's brought regular knocks from the former president and her Republican foes.
“She campaigned on that four years ago,” Trump said in Septemberon Fox News’ “Hannity" after she brought civil charges against the Trump Organization for allegedly inflating the value of its holdings. “It was a vicious campaign, and she just talked about Trump; ‘We’re going to indict him, We’re going to get him’. She knew nothing about me. I never heard of her.”
James' campaign did send out a fundraising appeal the night of the charges against the Trump company, but her campaign dismissed it as a regular email that goes out to supporters trying to raise money.
“Once again, powerful and corrupt men have taken over the headlines, friend,” the email from her campaign said. “But I’m not surprised. Ever since I took my oath as your attorney general and swore to do everything in my power to finally bring the most corrupt actors to justice, they have worked tirelessly to take me down.”
The James campaign suggested that her work as attorney general is enough evidence for voters.
"Letitia James is spending her time doing her day job as attorney general and the campaign is spending its resources talking to voters,” her campaign said in a statement.
