The 2022 United States attorney general elections were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorneys general in thirty states, two territories, and one federal district. The previous elections for this group of states took place in 2018. The attorney general of Vermont serves two-year terms and was last elected in 2020.
Seven states do not popularly elect an attorney general. These elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections. Democrats had a net gain of one seat in these elections, flipping Arizona and Vermont, while Republicans flipped Iowa.
Partisan composition before the election Going into the election, there were 23 Republican attorneys general and 20 Democratic attorneys general. This class of attorneys general was made of 15 Democrats and 15 Republicans.
Republicans defended three states won by Joe Biden in 2020 (Georgia, Arizona, and Vermont), while Democrats defended one state won by Donald Trump (Iowa). Additionally, Democrats held attorney general offices in three states with Republican governors. By contrast, Republicans held attorney general offices in one state with a Democratic governor.
Election predictions Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.
Most election predictors used:
"tossup": no advantage "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean" "lean": slight advantage "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage "safe": near-certain chance of victory
+StatePVIIncumbentParentheses around an incumbent's name indicates that the incumbent is not running for re-election.LastraceSabatoED Result AlabamaR+15 Steve Marshall 58.8% R Steve Marshall ArizonaR+3Mark Brnovich 51.7% R Kristin Mayes ArkansasR+16 Leslie Rutledge 61.8% R Tim Griffin CaliforniaD+14Rob Bonta Appointed Rob Bonta ColoradoD+3 Phil Weiser 51.6% D Phil Weiser ConnecticutD+7 William Tong 52.5% D William Tong DelawareD+6Kathy Jennings 61.3% D Kathy Jennings FloridaR+3 Ashley Moody 52.1% R Ashley Moody GeorgiaR+3Chris Carr 51.3% R Chris Carr IdahoR+19 Lawrence Wasden 62.5% R Raúl Labrador IllinoisD+7 Kwame Raoul 54.7% D Kwame Raoul IowaR+6Tom Miller 76.5% D Brenna Bird KansasR+11 Derek Schmidt 59.0% R Kris Kobach MarylandD+14 Brian Frosh 64.8% D Anthony Brown MassachusettsD+14 Maura Healey 69.9% D Andrea Campbell MichiganR+1Dana Nessel 49.0% D Dana Nessel MinnesotaD+1Keith Ellison 49.0% DFL Keith Ellison NebraskaR+13 Doug Peterson 100.0% R Mike Hilgers Nevada Aaron Ford 47.2% D Aaron Ford New MexicoD+3 Hector Balderas 61.8% D Raúl Torrez New YorkD+10 Letitia James 62.4% D Letitia James North DakotaR+20 Drew Wrigley Appointed Drew Wrigley OhioR+6 Dave Yost 52.2% R Dave Yost OklahomaR+20 John M. O'Connor Appointed Gentner Drummond Rhode IslandD+8 Peter Neronha 79.8% D Peter Neronha South CarolinaR+8 Alan Wilson 55.1% R Alan Wilson South DakotaR+16 Mark Vargo Appointed Marty Jackley TexasR+5 Ken Paxton 50.6% R Ken Paxton VermontD+15 Susanne Young Appointed Charity Clark WisconsinR+2 Josh Kaul 49.4% D Josh Kaul
Race summary States State AttorneyGeneral Party Firstelected Status Candidates Alabama Steve Marshall Republican 2017 Incumbent re-elected. Arizona Mark Brnovich Republican 2014 Incumbent term-limited.New attorney general elected.Democratic gain. Arkansas Leslie Rutledge Republican 2014 Incumbent term-limited.New attorney general elected.Republican hold. California Rob Bonta Democratic 2021 Interim appointee elected. Colorado Phil Weiser Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Connecticut William Tong Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Delaware Kathy Jennings Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Florida Ashley Moody Republican 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Georgia Chris Carr Republican 2016 Incumbent re-elected. Idaho Lawrence Wasden Republican 2002 Incumbent lost renomination.New attorney general elected.Republican hold. Illinois Kwame Raoul Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Iowa Tom Miller Democratic 19781990 1994 Incumbent lost re-election.New attorney general elected.Republican gain. Kansas Derek Schmidt Republican 2010 Incumbent retired to run for governor of Kansas.New attorney general elected.Republican hold. Maryland Brian Frosh Democratic 2014 Incumbent retired.New attorney general elected.Democratic hold. Massachusetts Maura Healey Democratic 2014 Incumbent retired to run for governor of Massachusetts.New attorney general elected.Democratic hold. Michigan Dana Nessel Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Minnesota Keith Ellison DFL 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Nebraska Doug Peterson Republican 2014 Incumbent retired.New attorney general elected.Republican hold. Nevada Aaron Ford Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. New Mexico Hector Balderas Democratic 2014 Incumbent term-limited.New attorney general elected.Democratic hold. New York Letitia James Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. North Dakota Drew Wrigley Republican 2022 Interim appointee elected. Ohio Dave Yost Republican 2018 Incumbent re-elected. Oklahoma John M. O'Connor Republican 2021 Interim appointee lost nomination to full term.New attorney general elected.Republican hold. Rhode Island Peter Neronha Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected. South Carolina Alan Wilson Republican 2010 Incumbent re-elected. Alan Wilson (Republican) South Dakota Mark Vargo Republican 2022 Incumbent retired.New attorney general elected.Republican hold. Marty Jackley (Republican) Texas Ken Paxton Republican 2014 Incumbent re-elected. Vermont Susanne Young Republican 2022 Interim appointee retired.New attorney general elected.Democratic gain. Wisconsin Josh Kaul Democratic 2018 Incumbent re-elected.
Territories and federal district State AttorneyGeneral Party Firstelected Status Candidates District of Columbia Karl Racine Democratic 2014 Incumbent retired.New attorney general elected.Democratic hold. Guam Leevin Camacho Independent 2018 Incumbent lost re-election.New attorney general elected.Republican gain. Northern Mariana Islands Edward Manibusan Nonpartisan 2014 Incumbent re-elected.
Closest races States where the margin of victory was under 1%: Arizona, 0.02% Guam, 0.12% Minnesota, 0.84%
States where the margin of victory was under 5%: Wisconsin, 1.34% Kansas, 1.68% Iowa, 1.71%
States where the margin of victory was under 10%: Georgia, 5.26% Delaware, 7.67% Nevada, 7.89% New York, 8.58% Michigan, 8.60% Texas, 9.76%
Blue denotes races won by Democrats. Red denotes races won by Republicans.
Alabama
Incumbent Republican Steve Marshall ran for re-election. He was challenged by attorney Harry Still III in the primary. Tarrant police chief Wendell Major, a Democrat, ran.
Marshall and Major won their respective primaries on May 24.
In the general election, Steve Marshall won re-election.
Arizona
The 2022 Arizona Attorney General election will take place on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorney general of Arizona. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich was term-limited, could not seek re-election to a third term in office and instead ran for the U.S. Senate.
Republican candidates included former assistant U.S. attorney Lacy Cooper, former Tucson city councilman Rodney Glassman, former Arizona Supreme Court justice Andrew Gould, chair of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry Dawn Grove, former Maricopa County prosecutor Abraham Hamadeh, and farmer and 2020 congressional candidate Tiffany Shedd.
The only Democratic candidate is attorney and former chair of the Arizona Corporation Commission Kristin Mayes.
In the general election, Kris Mayes won by a razor-thin margin of 280 votes.
Arkansas
The 2022 Arkansas Attorney General election will be held on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorney general of Arkansas. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Leslie Rutledge won re-election on November 6, 2018, to a second term. She was term-limited and decided to announce a campaign for Governor of Arkansas in 2022 but later switched to run for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas.
Republican candidates included Lt. Governor Tim Griffin, and Attorney Leon Jones Jr. The only Democratic candidate is Little Rock lawyer Jesse Gibson.
Griffin and Gibson won their respective primaries on May 24.
In the general election, Griffin easily won.
California
The 2022 California Attorney General election will be held on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorney general of California. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta was appointed to the office on April 23, 2021, following the resignation of Xavier Becerra to become the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. He ran for a full term.
Republican candidates included attorney and business owner Eric Early and former assistant attorney general for the Tax Division Nathan Hochman.
Criminal defense attorney Dan Kapelovitz is running as the Green Party candidate. Sacramento district attorney Anne Marie Schubert is running as an independent.
Bonta and Hochman advanced from the nonpartisan blanket primary on June 7.
Rob Bonta won in the general election.
Colorado
Incumbent Democrat Phil Weiser ran for re-election. Republican John Kellner, district attorney for the 18th district court of Colorado, ran against Weiser.
Attorney Stanley Thorne originally ran as a Republican, but was disqualified.
Weiser and Kellner won their respective primaries on June 28.
Phil Weiser won re-election.
Connecticut
Incumbent Democrat William Tong ran for re-election. Republican attorney Jessica Kordas ran against him.
William Tong won re-election.
Delaware
Incumbent Democrat Attorney General Kathy Jennings ran for re-election.
The only Republican candidate is 2020 Republican gubernatorial nominee Julianne Murray.
Kathy Jennings won re-election by under 10%.
Florida
Incumbent Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody ran for re-election.
Democratic candidates included former state attorney Aramis Ayala, Fort Lauderdale criminal defense lawyer Jim Lewis, and Santa Rosa Beach lawyer Daniel Uhlfelder.
Ayala won the Democratic primary on August 23.
In the general election, Ashley Moody won re-election with over 60% of the vote.
Georgia
The 2022 Georgia Attorney General election will take place on November 8, 2022, to elect the attorney general of Georgia. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Chris Carr was appointed to the office on November 1, 2016. He won re-election to a second full term.
He faced a primary challenge from business owner John Gordon.
State Senator Jen Jordan and lawyer Christian Wise Smith ran for the Democratic nomination. Lawyer Martin Cowen ran as a Libertarian.
Carr and Jordan won their respective primaries on May 24.
In the general election, Carr won re-election by over 5% of the vote.
Idaho
Incumbent Republican Lawrence Wasden ran for re-election, but lost renomination to former U.S. representative and former chair of the Idaho Republican Party Raúl Labrador in the Republican primary.
Lawyer Steven Scanlin was the only Democratic candidate, but withdrew after securing the nomination. Boise attorney Tom Arkoosh assumed the Democratic nomination and appeared on the November ballot instead.
Labrador and Scanlin won their respective primaries on May 17.
Labrador won the general election.
Illinois
Incumbent Democrat Kwame Raoul ran for re-election.
Republican candidates included business attorney and Republican nominee for attorney general in 2010 Steve Kim, lawyer Tom DeVore and attorney David Shestokas.
Raoul and DeVore won their respective primaries on June 28.
Raoul won re-election by 11 points.