(Oct. 23, 2026 / JNS)
The race to be New York state’s top law enforcement officer appears to be unexpectedly close in what is otherwise likely to be a difficult year for Republicans.
A poll released last week suggests that a strong debate performance and lingering concerns about crime have pushed Saritha Komatireddy, a partner at Holtzman Vogel and a former federal prosecutor, within striking distance of New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat.
JNS spoke with Komatireddy, the Republican nominee, on Thursday about what she would do differently as the chief lawyer for the Empire State.
“On day one, I will declare a state of emergency on antisemitism in New York City,” she told JNS. “I would make sure that in the attorney general’s office, we are directly prosecuting hate crimes. That is something that our current attorney general has never done.”
Anti-Jewish hate crimes account for more than half of all such crimes committed in New York City despite Jews making up about 10% of the city’s population, according to New York City Police Department data.
James argued during the Oct. 8 debate with Komatireddy that the primary responsibility for prosecuting those crimes lies with local district attorneys, and that the attorney general’s office focuses primarily on civil litigation.
Komatireddy told JNS that those district attorneys have failed.
“The attorney general, under New York state law, has the power to step in and enforce and prosecute hate crimes when a D.A. is being ineffective in doing so,” she said. “The data shows that the D.A. in Manhattan, the D.A.s in New York City, are ineffective in combating hate crimes.”
“That’s why hate crimes are surging and particularly antisemitic hate crimes are surging,” she said.
The child of immigrants, Komatireddy, 42, was born in Brooklyn.
“My dad is from a small village in India,” she said. “He had no running water. No electricity.”
She said that she went to law school to “fight terrorism through the law.”
“9/11 happened my first week in college, so for me, for everyone, for every New Yorker, for every American, that was a hugely important moment in their life,” she told JNS. “I felt strongly that I needed to do my part to fight terrorism, and I thought that the best way that I could do that was through being a prosecutor.”
Komatireddy served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 2013 to 2025.
“I prosecuted terrorists in al-Qaeda and ISIS,” she said. “My U.S. attorney then asked me to take over and become chief of the international narcotics and money laundering unit.”
“In that role, I prosecuted narcoterrorists in the Sinaloa cartel and several of the other cartels in Mexico and Colombia,” she told JNS. “Then I became chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration, under President Biden.”
New York state hasn’t voted for a Republican for president since 1984, but the state has long waxed and waned in state and local races between tough-on-crime politicians and progressives.
James was arguably the moderate choice in the Democratic primary for attorney general when she was first elected in 2018. But her time in office has coincided with efforts like the abolition of cash bail for misdemeanors and non-violent felonies that many New Yorkers blame for issues like crime on the subway.
“The overriding issue right now in New York, in terms of the attorney general’s race, is public safety,” Komatireddy told JNS. “When you talk to New Yorkers today, they’ll tell you they feel less safe than they did five years ago.”
Komatireddy pointed to the example of Yogesh Sayrange, who was charged in federal court in July for a string of arson attacks after being released without bail in two local criminal cases.
“He threatened someone with a metal knuckle knife,” she said. “He was released because of the bail laws. Charged as a misdemeanor.”
“Two weeks later, he’s arrested again, because he’s seen waving around an axe and threatening to cut off someone’s head,” she said. “Arrested, sees the judge, released. Unsurprisingly, days later, he then goes around Brooklyn and Queens and throws Molotov cocktails at businesses and churches.”
“Broken bail laws mean that known, dangerous individuals keep returning to our communities, and that feeds into the rise in crime and terrorism and hate,” Komatireddy told JNS.
Many Jewish New Yorkers attribute the rise in antisemitic violence in recent years in part to an anti-Israel political climate since Oct. 7 that is perhaps best exemplified by the election of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mamdani campaigned on arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has frequently accused the Jewish state of “genocide.”
Komatireddy said that Mamdani’s comments have been “concerning.”
“Over the course of this year, the mayor has dabbled in international politics and has called for unrest,” she told JNS. “Speech is protected by the U.S. Constitution, so is the free exercise of religion, and we need to make sure that we protect both of those things.”
“Violence is not protected and that’s where you draw the line,” she said.
In November, Mamdani’s press secretary said that synagogues “should not be used to promote activities in violation of international law” after anti-Israel protesters reportedly shouted “death to the IDF” and “globalize the intifada” at a demonstration that the World Jewish Congress said was “reminiscent of Kristallnacht.”
In April, Mamdani issued his first veto over city council legislation designed in part to create a “buffer zone” around schools to prevent similar protests and claimed that he would “allow” the passage of a similar bill to create a buffer around houses of worship that had a veto-proof majority in the chamber.
The City Council later passed a new version of the vetoed bill.
Komatireddy said that, if elected, she would impose those buffers unilaterally.
“The attorney general has independent authority to establish safe buffer zones,” she said. “Our current attorney general has used that authority for other buildings but not for synagogues. I will use it to protect synagogues and other houses of worship.”
“The attorney general has authority to enforce federal civil rights law—Title VI—and protect Jewish students at schools,” she said. “Again, our current attorney general has used that authority to protect other groups of students, but not Jewish students.”
“I will use the criminal and civil authorities of the attorney general’s office to protect Jewish New Yorkers,” she told JNS.