Okay, But Why Should You Vote for Attorney General?
An attorney general is basically the top legal expert in their state. In almost all states, it’s we the people who get to elect our state’s Attorney General. There’s also a U.S. Attorney General, but they are appointed by the president.
So what exactly is a state attorney general? What good – or harm– can they do, and why is it so important that we learn about who’s running for attorney general in our state?
What does an attorney general do for the people of their state?
Attorneys general are also known as “the people’s lawyers,” because they fight to protect and defend us, their constituents, from people and companies that don’t have our best interests in mind. That can mean prosecuting companies that are polluting waterways, or landlords who are illegally raising rent prices, or banks that are selling people’s private data.
Sometimes state attorneys general band together on lawsuits, like a recent case against Purdue Pharma for aggressively pushing medications like OxyContin and contributing to the opioid crisis we’re facing in this country. The company settled for $7.4 billion – which means billions of dollars can now be put back into treatment and prevention programs. It’s a great example of how an attorney general can have a real positive impact on the people of their state.
What harm can a corrupt or extremist attorney general do?
Unfortunately, we also have a lot of examples of the harm that a corrupt or extremist attorney general can do. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is one notorious example. His office wasted 22,000 hours and taxpayer money searching for voter fraud in the 2020 election, ultimately finding only 16 cases of false addresses on voter registration forms. 16 cases out of 17 million registered voters in Texas! He’s also the guy who threatened to prosecute Texas doctors for providing medical care for Kate Cox, a woman who almost died because she couldn’t get the life-saving abortion she needed.
On top of all that, he was actually impeached in 2023 by the Republican Texas House of Representatives for corruption and bribery. There was ample evidence of Paxton using the power of his office to protect his political donors and make money through insider trading. He was even investigated by the FBI! And yet, Republicans in the Texas state Senate decided not to remove him from office.
When do we vote for state attorneys general?
There is good news, though: terms don’t last forever and people have the power to vote attorneys general out. Most attorneys general are elected to office for a four-year term. A couple of states have two or eight-year terms, and in Alaska, Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Wyoming, Tennessee, and Maine, attorneys general are appointed by the governor or state legislature. But in every other state, it’s up to voters to choose their own attorney general.
Thirty states will elect a new attorney general in 2026 and ten will vote for theirs in 2028. Who we vote for is not just about sending a message about our values and rejecting extremism. It’s about choosing a “People’s Lawyer” who actually works for us, the people.