Letitia James

Letitia Ann James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician. She is a member of the Democratic Party and the current Attorney General of New York (NYAG), having won the 2018 election to succeed appointed AG Barbara Underwood. James is the first African American and first woman to be elected to the position. Born and raised in Brooklyn, James graduated from Lehman College in The Bronx before obtaining her Juris Doctor degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She worked as a public defender, then on staff in the New York State Assembly, and later as a New York State assistant AG in the Brooklyn regional office. James served as a member of the New York City Council from 2004 to 2013. She represented the 35th district, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, parts of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Bedford–Stuyvesant. James chaired the committees on economic development and sanitation, and served on several others. From 2013 to 2018, she was the New York City Public Advocate, making her the first African-American woman to be elected to and hold citywide office in New York City. James was briefly a candidate in the 2022 New York gubernatorial election, but suspended her campaign in December 2021, opting to instead run for reelection as AG.