NRI PULSE STAFF REPORT
New York, NY, August 18, 2026: : President Donald Trump has thrown his “complete and total endorsement” behind Indian-American Republican Saritha Komatireddy in her bid to unseat New York Attorney General Letitia James, turning an already closely watched statewide race into another front in Trump’s long-running battle with one of his most prominent legal adversaries.
“It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot, Saritha Komatireddy, who is running to be the next Attorney General” of New York, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Friday.
Trump praised Komatireddy’s background as a federal prosecutor and former chief of staff at the Drug Enforcement Administration, while launching a blistering attack on James and her record in office. He also noted that he had previously nominated Komatireddy to the federal bench.
Komatireddy, 41, is the Republican nominee for New York attorney general and will face James, the Democratic incumbent, in the Nov. 3 general election. Both candidates advanced without contested party primaries.
Komatireddy thanked Trump for his support following the endorsement and said she was ready to take on James.
The endorsement is especially notable because of Trump’s history with James, who sued Trump and the Trump Organization in 2022, alleging that they fraudulently inflated asset values on financial statements to obtain favorable financial terms.
A judge ultimately found Trump and other defendants liable and imposed a financial penalty that grew to nearly $465 million with interest. In 2025, a New York appeals court threw out the disgorgement penalty as excessive while leaving the underlying fraud findings and other relief in place.
Trump has repeatedly accused James of pursuing him for political reasons, while James has defended the case as an enforcement action based on the evidence and the law. The history between the two gives Trump’s backing of Komatireddy significance beyond a routine party endorsement.
Komatireddy brings substantial prosecutorial experience to the race. She spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, working on cases involving international terrorism, cybercrime, money laundering, transnational criminal organizations and foreign corruption. She later served as chief of staff at the DEA.
Earlier in her career, she clerked for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and served as counsel to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.
In 2020, during his first term in office, Trump nominated Komatireddy to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The nomination did not result in Senate confirmation before Trump left office.
Komatireddy is currently a partner at the law firm Holtzman Vogel, where she focuses on federal investigations, commercial litigation and appeals. She has also taught at Columbia Law School.
Her campaign has sought to draw a sharp contrast with James, focusing heavily on crime and public safety. Komatireddy has also accused the attorney general of politicizing the office and misusing taxpayer funds.
Most recently, she criticized more than $54 million distributed through New York’s Homeowner Protection Program to six legal-services organizations that she characterized as supporting anti-police causes. James’ campaign and organizations involved in the program have pushed back, saying the funds are governed by program requirements and provide legal and housing assistance to homeowners facing foreclosure, predatory lending and deed theft.
James, who has served as attorney general since 2019, is seeking a third term. She remains the favorite in a state where Republicans have struggled for decades to win statewide office. No Republican has won a New York statewide election since 2002.
Komatireddy, however, enters the general election with the backing of the state Republican Party as well as Trump, potentially giving her campaign greater national visibility, fundraising attention and support from the president’s political base. She received 84 percent of the weighted vote at the state Republican convention earlier this year.
The race also comes as Republicans are hoping for a more competitive political environment in New York. An August Siena College poll in the governor’s race showed Republican Bruce Blakeman trailing Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul 49 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 10-point gap.
For Trump, however, the attorney general contest carries an unmistakably personal dimension. James has been one of his most persistent legal antagonists, and his endorsement ensures that the battle over who becomes New York’s next attorney general will have a national political spotlight.
For Komatireddy, the campaign now presents both an opportunity and a formidable challenge: leveraging the backing of the nation’s most powerful Republican while trying to become the first Republican in more than two decades to win statewide office in heavily Democratic New York.
Cover photo credit: Sarita Komatireddy for New York campaign website.
