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Saritha Komatireddy launches bid for NY Attorney General
The Indian American federal prosecutor said public safety and criminal prosecution are central to her campaign.
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Malvika Choudhary - Mon, 29, Dec 2025
- 16:09 EST
- 22
Saritha Komatireddy / X (Saritha Komatireddy)
Indian American prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy has announced her bid for New York attorney general, positioning herself as a law-and-order candidate and criticizing the current administration’s approach to public safety.
In a social media post announcing her campaign, Komatireddy said she was running because “we need a prosecutor in charge, focused on New York and focused on safety,” adding, “If New York isn’t safe, nothing else matters.”
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The announcement was accompanied by a video outlining Komatireddy’s professional background and her motivation for entering public office. In the video, she linked her decision to pursue a legal career to the Sept. 11 attacks, saying the events changed her and led her to law school “to prosecute terrorists to protect New York and America.”
Komatireddy identified herself in the video as a former federal prosecutor and former chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration, noting that she had been nominated to be a federal judge by President Donald Trump.
She described prosecuting criminals as her “life’s work” and cited past cases involving an al-Qaeda operative, an ISIS sniper, and a Sinaloa cartel front man, all of whom received lengthy prison sentences.
She also directly attacked incumbent Attorney General Letitia James, calling her an “incompetent politician” and alleging that she has focused on political adversaries rather than public safety.
In the video, Komatireddy claimed that under James’s tenure, crime in New York State is up 26 percent and drug-related deaths have risen by 63 percent, arguing that the state is “less safe.” She said concerns about crime had become personal, referring to walking her children to school and holding their hands “a little tighter now.”
Komatireddy said her campaign is centered on reversing what she described as a failure to arrest, charge, and prosecute criminals, stating that “the days of criminals not being arrested, not being charged, and not being prosecuted will be over.”
Komatireddy currently serves as deputy chief of appeals at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She has previously held senior roles including chief of international narcotics and money laundering, deputy chief of general crimes, computer hacking and intellectual property coordinator, and assistant U.S. attorney in the office’s national security and cybercrime section. She has tried eight federal criminal trials and argued more than a dozen cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Between 2023 and 2024, Komatireddy served as chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration, overseeing operations at the 10,000-person federal agency.
Her earlier experience includes private practice at Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel in Washington, D.C., and service as counsel to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. She clerked for Brett M. Kavanaugh when he was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
Komatireddy has received multiple professional honors, including three Attorney General’s Awards, two True American Hero Awards, and the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation Prosecutor of the Year Award.
She grew up in Missouri as the daughter of doctors who immigrated from Telangana in India and has described herself as the first nominee from a Telugu background.
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