The 2022 New York Attorney General election was held on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Letitia James was eligible for re-election, but originally decided to run for Governor of New York in 2022. On December 9, 2021, however, she suspended her gubernatorial campaign and announced that she would seek re-election as attorney general. Republicans nominated Michael Henry, an attorney from Queens. James defeated Henry by a margin of 9.2%, down from her 27.2% victory in 2018.

Of all the statewide races in New York in 2022, this is the only one where the incumbent (Letitia James) refused to debate their opponent.

Democratic primary After incumbent attorney general Letitia James announced her candidacy for governor of New York, several other Democrats launched campaigns for attorney general. When James suspended her campaign for governor and announced that she would seek re-election instead, those candidates ended their campaigns for attorney general and endorsed James. As of June 23, 2022, James had no primary challengers. The Democratic primary for AG was cancelled and James advanced to the November general election.

Candidates

Nominee Letitia James, incumbent attorney general (2019–present) (previously ran for governor)

Withdrew Dan Goldman, former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (2007–2017) and former general counsel for the U.S. House Intelligence Committee (2019–2020) (running for U.S. House, endorsed James) Shelley Mayer, state senator from the 37th district (2018–present) (running for re-election, endorsed James) Zephyr Teachout, Fordham University Associate Professor, candidate for governor in 2014, nominee for NY-19 in 2016, and candidate for attorney general in 2018 (endorsed James) Clyde Vanel, state assemblyman for the 33rd District of New York (2017–present) (running for re-election, endorsed James) Maria Vullo, former Superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (endorsed James)

Declined Michael Gianaris, state senator from the 12th district (2011–present); Deputy Majority Leader of the New York State Senate (2019–present); state assemblymember from the 36th district (2001–2010) (running for re-election, endorsed James) Laura Gillen, former town supervisor of Hempstead (2018–2019) (running for U.S. House) Sean Patrick Maloney, U.S. representative for NY-18 (2015–present); candidate for attorney general in 2018 (running for re-election, endorsed James) Kathleen Rice, U.S. representative for NY-4 (2015–present) (endorsed James) Tom Suozzi, U.S. representative for NY-3 (2017–present) (running for governor)

Endorsements

Polling

Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error AndrewCuomo MichaelGianaris DanielGoldman EricGonzalez LetitiaJames MelindaKatz Maloney ShelleyMayer KathleenRice ZephyrTeachout ClydeVanel MariaVullo Other UndecidedEmerson CollegeEmerson CollegeMarch 9–10, 2022504 (LV)± 4.3%––––47%–––––––25%28%33%–––45%–––––––13%9%Data for Progress (D)Data for Progress (D)November 16–17, 2021528 (LV)± 4.0%–2%5%7%–7%8%2%7%15%1%1%–48%

Republican primary Two candidates, John Sarcone and Michael Henry, competed for the Republican nomination. In a surprise move, Sarcone declined to be nominated at the state Republican convention, leading to Henry earning the endorsement unanimously.

Candidates

Nominee Michael Henry, attorney

Declined Joseph H. Holland, former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Housing and Community Renewal; candidate for attorney general in 1994 and 2018

Withdrew John Sarcone, former General Services Administration official

Endorsements

Conservative primary

Candidates

Nominee Michael Henry, attorney

General election

Predictions SourceRankingAs of Sabato's Crystal Ball September 14, 2022Elections DailyNovember 1, 2022

Post-primary endorsements

Polling Graphical summary

Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error LetitiaJames (D) MichaelHenry (R) Other UndecidedKAConsulting (R)KAConsulting (R)October 27–29, 2022501 (LV)± 4.4%47%41%–8%Data for Progress (D)Data for Progress (D)October 26–28, 2022818 (LV)± 3.0%55%40%–6%Slingshot Strategies (D)Slingshot Strategies (D)October 25–26, 20221,000 (LV)± 3.1%48%36%–16%Siena CollegeSiena CollegeOctober 12–14, 2022707 (LV)± 4.9%51%40%1%8%The Trafalgar Group (R)The Trafalgar Group (R)September 30 – October 3, 20221,087 (LV)± 2.9%44%45%0%10%Siena CollegeSiena CollegeSeptember 16–25, 2022655 (LV)± 3.9%53%37%1%9%The Trafalgar Group (R)The Trafalgar Group (R)August 31 – September 1, 20221,091 (LV)± 2.9%43%44%0%13%Emerson CollegeEmerson CollegeJuly 26–28, 20221,000 (LV)± 3.0%50%32%4%12%Siena CollegeSiena CollegeJuly 24–28, 2022806 (LV)± 3.5%50%36%0%13%

Generic Democrat vs. generic Republican with Andrew Cuomo as an independent Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error GenericDemocrat GenericRepublican AndrewCuomo (I) UndecidedEmerson CollegeMarch 9–10, 20221,000 (RV)± 3.0%36%34%13%17%

Results

By county County Letitia JamesDemocratic Michael HenryRepublican Write-ins # % # % # % Albany70,63761.1%44,83838.8%90.1% Allegany4,00125.7%11,56174.3%00.0% Bronx154,43379.3%40,27220.7%90.0% Broome30,92946.1%38,17353.9%20.0% Cattaraugus8,07231.7%17,41968.3%00.0% Cayuga10,49539.5%16,05060.4%00.0% Chautauqua15,48936.2%27,30463.8%10.0% Chemung9,99136.5%17,36663.4%20.1% Chenango5,32332.1%11,24267.8%10.1% Clinton12,80047.3%14,26952.7%00.0% Columbia16,42155.8%13,00344.2%00.0% Cortland6,91843.4%9,02056.6%00.0% Delaware6,80637.0%11,59663.0%10.0% Dutchess56,20149.4%57,45450.5%40.1% Erie178,26953.1%157,10046.8%160.1% Essex7,26948.0%7,86352.0%00.0% Franklin6,54144.0%8,34456.0%00.0% Fulton5,53930.4%12,71269.6%00.0% Genesee6,34529.0%15,52471.0%00.0% Greene7,73539.0%12,08461.0%00.0% Hamilton88531.6%1,91468.4%00.0% Herkimer5,63326.7%15,45373.3%00.0% Jefferson10,46333.6%20,70266.4%00.0% Kings412,06674.2%142,54225.7%560.1% Lewis2,51824.6%7,73375.4%00.0% Livingston8,15634.2%15,68765.8%00.0% Madison10,43440.2%15,47959.7%20.1% Monroe147,79554.2%124,59445.7%130.1% Montgomery5,41635.0%10,08365.0%00.0% Nassau233,57445.7%277,68954.3%150.0% New York367,26982.5%77,55217.4%480.1% Niagara29,81639.9%44,92260.1%20.0% Oneida26,81636.2%47,21963.8%20.0% Onondaga91,77954.7%76,07345.3%60.0% Ontario20,00944.0%25,48856.0%10.0% Orange56,55546.4%65,13553.5%60.1% Orleans3,34325.2%9,94274.8%00.0% Oswego13,47034.0%26,15866.0%10.0% Otsego9,27242.7%12,44157.3%10.0% Putnam16,48440.4%24,33059.6%10.0% Queens277,81764.9%149,71235.0%340.1% Rensselaer29,57148.1%31,84851.8%20.1% Richmond47,76734.3%91,29765.6%70.1% Rockland49,80848.3%53,28151.6%110.1% St. Lawrence13,19339.6%20,09460.4%00.0% Saratoga48,93247.7%53,70052.3%20.0% Schenectady29,17652.6%25,31047.3%30.1% Schoharie4,15032.8%8,51767.2%00.0% Schuyler2,75636.1%4,88163.9%00.0% Seneca4,59740.4%6,78459.6%00.0% Steuben10,05229.5%23,98470.5%00.0% Suffolk236,80842.6%318,76857.4%90.0% Sullivan10,09441.7%14,08858.2%10.1% Tioga6,41734.3%12,31465.7%00.0% Tompkins25,31472.9%9,37527.0%20.1% Ulster44,98358.4%32,07341.6%30.01% Warren12,76346.1%14,93253.9%10.0% Washington8,36638.4%13,38361.5%10.1% Wayne10,93433.0%22,18967.0%10.0% Westchester197,38161.1%125,70138.9%70.0% Wyoming3,46123.0%11,57377.0%00.0% Yates2,94936.4%5,16763.6%00.0%Totals3,168,25654.60%2,631,30145.35%3,0730.05% Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Clinton (largest municipality: Plattsburgh) Essex (largest municipality: Ticonderoga) Franklin (largest municipality: Malone) Cortland (largest municipality: Cortland) Broome (largest municipality: Binghamton) Dutchess (county seat: Poughkeepsie) Rensselaer (County Seat: Troy) Rockland (county seat: New City) Nassau (largest municipality: Hempstead) Orange (largest municipality: Kiryas Joel) Richmond (Staten Island, borough of New York City) Suffolk (largest municipality: Brookhaven)

By congressional district James won 16 of 26 congressional districts, including one that elected a Republican. DistrictJamesHenryRepresentative 44% 56%Lee Zeldin (117th Congress)Nick LaLota (118th Congress)2nd41%59%Andrew Garbarino45%55%Tom Suozzi (117th Congress)George Santos (118th Congress)48%52%Kathleen Rice (117th Congress)Anthony D'Esposito (118th Congress)5th75%25%Gregory Meeks6th57%43%Grace Meng7th79%21%Nydia Velázquez8th72%28%Hakeem Jeffries9th72%28%Yvette Clarke 83% 17%Jerry Nadler (117th Congress)Dan Goldman (118th Congress)11th37%63%Nicole Malliotakis 80% 20%Carolyn Maloney (117th Congress)Jerry Nadler (118th Congress)13th88%12%Adriano Espaillat14th72%28%Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez15th81%19%Ritchie Torres16th64%36%Jamaal Bowman 50.4% 49.6%Mondaire Jones (117th Congress)Mike Lawler (118th Congress) 51% 49%Sean Patrick Maloney (117th Congress)Pat Ryan (118th Congress) 48% 52%Pat Ryan (117th Congress)Marc Molinaro (118th Congress)20th55%45%Paul Tonko21st39%61%Elise Stefanik 48% 52%Claudia Tenney (117th Congress)Brandon Williams (118th Congress) 37% 63%Joe Sempolinski (117th Congress)Nick Langworthy (118th Congress) 35% 65%John Katko (117th Congress)Claudia Tenney (118th Congress)25th54%46%Joseph Morelle26th58%42%Brian Higgins

Notes

Partisan clients

References

External links Official campaign websites Michael Henry (R) for Attorney General Letitia James (D) for Attorney General