Big money flows into state attorney general races as legal battles shape American politics
With control of Congress on the ballot in November, state attorney general races can get lost in the shuffle. But just outside the election spotlight, there are partisan groups, corporate interests and advocacy networks revving up campaigns for offices that are playing a growing role in American politics.
The group of Republican organizations dedicated to these contests reported raising a record amount of money last year, pulling in $29 million in preparation for the 2026 midterms. Democratic counterparts said they brought in $28 million, twice as much as usual at this stage of the election cycle.
Some 30 seats are on the ballot this year. Money is pouring in from technology companies, tobacco companies and others, all of which could face scrutiny from states’ top legal officers. The money includes millions from law firms, unions and ideological groups, and it reflects the rising stature of the job in national policy and as a springboard for higher office.
“Because we try to solve so many of our problems with lawsuits, the office of attorney general has become more important,” said James Tierney, a former Maine attorney general who and teaches about the position at Harvard.
Attorneys general are key to political benches
At least six current attorneys general are running for governor this year.
Ten current governors first won the position as they wrapped up their attorney general terms, including three elected in 2024.
When Kamala Harris, a former California attorney general, ran for president in 2024, three of the finalists to be her running mate — Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania — were each a former attorney general serving as governor.
On the Republican side, President Donald Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, used to have that job in Florida.
Adam Piper, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association, said the political potential for those who win the office is a reason donors are increasingly interested.
“The AGs used to be the underdogs in the races” for top-of-the-ballot offices, he said. “Now, they’re the favorite in them.”
Some of the races that are priorities for the party organizations are in swing states where Democrats won in 2022: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. Democrats think they could have a chance to gain up seats in Republican-leaning Georgia, Kansas and Ohio. Republicans are targeting pickups in Minnesota and New York.
In Texas, flexing legal muscle across state lines
In Texas, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy — one of a line of current and former members of Congress from both parties to run for attorney general in recent years — is facing state Sen. Mayes Middleton in a May 26 runoff for the party’s nomination.
Ken Paxton, the current officeholder, is in a runoff for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate against incumbent John Cornyn, another former attorney general. Paxton made headlines when he was acquitted of corruption charges at an impeachment trial and for his aggressive efforts to investigate gender-affirming care of minors and abortion cases, even across state lines.
Both Roy and Middleton have pledged to stop what they call the “Islamification” of Texas. Middleton said in a debate last month that if he were elected, he would investigate financier and liberal donor George Soros, the subject of some conservative conspiracy theories, “for the crimes I believe he’s committed.”
Roy laid out one major appeal of leaving Congress for a state office. “I’ll be one of one instead of one of 435 (members of the U.S. House) fighting for you,” he said.
The winner will face the winner of a Democratic runoff between state Sen. Nathan Johnson and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski. Any statewide election victory by a Democrat would be considered an upset.
Frequent lawsuits against Trump’s administration
This month, a group of 24 Democratic officials — 22 attorneys general and two governors in states where the attorneys general are Republican — sued the Trump administration over the president’s attempt to impose tariffs on imports after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an earlier version of the trade penalties.
More than a year after Trump returned to office, Democratic officials have a lot of practice at this. By the tally of the Progressive State Leaders Committee, an arm of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, they have filed more than 80 lawsuits against the administration and have had favorable rulings in the majority of them.
Sean Rankin, the association’s president, said members of his group are “the only lever to hold Trump accountable” because Congress is compliant and controlled by Republicans.
In Arizona, the fate of a high-profile prosecution
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat who won the seat in 2022 by just 280 votes, said in an interview that the lawsuits against the administration — her office has joined 38 — have saved Arizona $1.5 billion, including by keeping money flowing for programs in AmeriCorps, Head Start and universities.
“If you don’t have an attorney general who is willing to stand up to the federal government,” she said, “your state is going to get hurt.”
She was the first attorney general to file criminal charges against Kalshi, the prediction market company, accusing it of operating an illegal gambling business.
Rodney Glassman, one of the Republicans vying to face Mayes in November, has made withdrawing from Mayes’s challenges to the administration’s policies a centerpiece of his campaign. In an interview, he called the filings “clickbait” and based in partisan politics.
“She has reorganized the office to go after Republicans,” Glassman said.
He has been asking smaller donors for $1 for every lawsuit that Mayes has joined against the administration.
Glassman, who faces state Senate President Warren Peterson in the June 22 primary, said that if he were to win in November, he would stop the criminal prosecutions Mayes has pursued against Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others for trying to overturn the president’s 2020 election loss in the state.
A Republican victory could accelerate Trump’s attempts to pursue falsehoods about voter fraud in Arizona. Peterson, whose campaign did not respond to interview requests, recently handed over election records to the FBI.