New York attorney general Letitia James dropped out of a winnable race, suggesting she could be gearing up for a high-stakes clash with Trump via her investigation of his business.
The decision by New York attorney general Letitia “Tish” James to drop out of the race for governor and instead seek reelection caught a lot of political observers off guard, including advisers, donors, and staffers who had only recently signed on to work for her campaign. It’s not as if victory were out of reach for James. She was clearly a contender, well on her way to developing the three factors that count most in an election: money, message, and momentum. When I spoke to her last week, James sounded like somebody who hears the call of history and wants the keys to the executive mansion in Albany. “I am the first woman of color to have been elected on a citywide level and the first woman of color elected on a statewide level. And I will be the first African-American woman governor in the United States of America,” she told me. “All of that said, it is nothing more than a historical footnote. The question really is: What can you do with the power that has been given to you? How can you transform the lives of others?” She went on to tick off a range of proposals on combating the pandemic, reigniting the economy, and fighting against addiction. “The status quo will not do,” she said. “For ten years under the previous administration, it was not about what was in the best interest of New Yorkers; it was about what was in the best interest of the donor class.” That doesn’t sound like a candidate entertaining second thoughts. It’s true she faced a formidable opponent, incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul. A recent Siena College poll showed Hochul was preferred by 36 percent of Democratic voters, compared with 18 percent for James — a sizable gap but one James could close given her popularity in vote-rich New York City.
