(The Center Square) — Republican Crypto attorney Khurram Dara will seek the party’s nomination to challenge Democratic New York Attorney General Letitia James in next year’s election.
Dara, 36, launched his campaign Thursday with a blistering attack on James, accusing her of regulatory oversight and of engaging in “lawfare” targeting Republican President Donald Trump and the crypto industry.
“I’m running for New York State Attorney General because the people of New York deserve an AG that puts New Yorkers first, not one consumed by her own political ambitions,” he said in a statement. “Letitia James has not earned another term. New York needs an Attorney General that will enforce the law, not politicize it. That’s why I am running.”
Dara, who recently worked at Bain Capital Crypto, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and serves on the advisory board of the Investor Choice Advocates Network, a nonprofit devoted to fighting regulatory overreach and expanding access to the capital markets.
In his campaign statement, the political newcomer pledged if elected to fairly enforce the state’s laws and work to create a better business climate to help reduce New York’s high costs of doing business.
“The evolution of state AGs into regulators and policymakers has been costly in more ways than one – and nowhere has that been more apparent than in New York,” he said. “Not only did it set the stage for Letitia James’ partisan lawfare, it has also increased the cost of doing business – leading to higher prices at a time when New Yorkers face a crippling affordability crisis.”
Dara will face a primary challenge from Republican Michael Henry, a Queens commercial litigation attorney, who is running against James again after an unsuccessful bid to unseat her in the 2022 elections.
Henry has already locked down the backing of Republican NY Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who is running against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul for governor next year, and dozens of county-level GOP officials who pledged their support for his campaign.
James, 67, is seeking a third-term as she fights federal bank mortgage fraud charges brought by the Justice Department related to the use of residential properties she owns in Virginia. She denies the charges and claims they are politically motivated.
She has been a frequent critic of Trump and has filed several multistate lawsuits against the Trump administration over federal immigration policies, rollbacks in federal funding, and worker layoffs and other actions. That includes a civil fraud trial that ended in a $454 million judgement against the Trump organization and its executives, which was overturned by a New York appeals court. James has appealed the ruling.
