NEW YORK (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James suspended her campaign for governor on Thursday, saying she will run for reelection to her current…
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Attorney General Letitia James suspended her campaign for governor Thursday, saying she will run for reelection to her current position to “finish the job” amid numerous ongoing investigations, including one into former President Donald Trump. James, a Democrat, had announced in late October that she was running for governor, two months after a sexual harassment investigation she oversaw led former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign. She had been expected to be a strong challenger against Gov. Kathy Hochul for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in an increasingly crowded field. James ended her campaign for governor the same day it was reported she was seeking to have Trump sit for a Jan.7 deposition in an ongoing civil probe into his business practices. “I have come to the conclusion that I must continue my work as attorney general,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “There are a number of important investigations and cases that are underway, and I intend to finish the job. I am running for re-election to complete the work New Yorkers elected me to do.” James,63, is the first woman elected as New York’s attorney general and the first Black person to serve in the role. Had she been elected governor, James would have been the first Black person voted into the role and the first Black female governor in the U.S. New York’s only Black governor, David Paterson, didn’t run for election after taking over in 2007 when Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned in a sex scandal. Earlier on Thursday, James’ office canceled a planned event on Long Island. Since announcing her campaign in October, James held few campaign events or news conferences and mostly stuck to her official calendar as attorney general.
