Letitia James's Debate Goes Horribly Wrong for Her as Critics Say Fiery GOP Challenger 'Wins Their Showdown in a Rout'
A federal prosecutor who wants to fight crime instead of President Donald Trump has gained momentum in her quest to outs New York Attorney General Letitia James.
“Saritha Komatireddy wins their showdown in a rout,” the Wall Street Journal wrote in an editorial after last Thursday’s debate. The Journal said she showed “debate watchers in real time that the incumbent has been too busy chasing Mr. Trump to read her job description.”
Komatireddy, 42, a Republican, has been a federal prosecutor in Brooklyn’s Eastern District of New York with a focus on criminals, as opposed to the fixation on Trump that Democrat James has said is her main qualification for the job.
The Journal noted this, writing, “Letitia James must think her opponent in the race for New York Attorney General is Donald Trump, because she named Mr. Trump or ‘the president’ about a dozen and a half times in an hour-long debate Thursday night.”
The editorial noted that James bragged about talking about her support for the Jewish community with the question of fighting anti-Semitism arose.
“This is exactly the problem. She just stands there. She doesn’t do anything,” Komatireddy replied in a flurry of jabs. “The Attorney General has the power to prosecute hate crimes. She has never used it once . . . The Attorney General has the power under Civil Rights Law 79-M to establish safe buffer zones around synagogues. She has never done it for synagogues.”
“We don’t have a lack of authority,” Komatireddy said. “We don’t have a lack of resources. We lack an Attorney General who is willing to enforce the law.”
In an editorial, the New York Post said James “was outwitted, outlawyered and simply outclassed.”
ICYMI: Letitia James stumped by debate question @FoxNews https://t.co/5PReqY4OU0
— Saritha Komatireddy (@sarithaforny) October 9, 2026
“James — whose unimpressive legal career hardly qualified her to be state attorney general — reeled like a lightweight as seasoned criminal prosecutor Komatireddy threw lightening jabs and bruising blows that left James blinking into the cameras and wishing the one-sided scrap could wrap up early,” the Post wrote.
Noting that James has been “worse than an empty suit,” the Post wrote that if voters saw the debate, “they’d have seen what a fraud of an AG New York has — and what a real one could like.”
The New York Sun wrote in endorsing Komatireddy that she offers “the prospect of an ethical and cultural reset for the state attorney general’s office.
During the debate, Komatireddy said James has made New York’s broken bail system worse by not even trying to fix it, according to the New York Post.
“The laws are broken and Letitia James broke them. She was the largest champion for having this catch-and-release system,” she said.
Komatireddy said James already rendered any possible action James might take in the Cornell University gang rape case by saying she supported the victim.
“She’s certainly never prosecuted a sexual assault case and she’s already screwed this one up,” Komatireddy said.
She also noted that James has been selective in using Title VI of the civil rights law.
“She has used it for other students but not for Jewish students who have been barricaded in libraries because of their race got no help from Tish James,” she said.
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