Fordham Law Professor Zephyr Teachout Running for NY Attorney General - Fordham Observer

Zephyr Teachout is focusing on climate policy, labor policy and consumer rights in her campaign

The New York Attorney General Letitia James announced she will run for reelection after ending her campaign for governor. Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham law professor who is also running for attorney general, is currently one of the major Democratic candidates running for the position.

Teachout ran for attorney general in the previous election in 2018 and lost to Letitia James. In the years following her loss, Teachout has published “Break ’Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money,” advised Congress on antitrust issues and continued to teach law at Fordham. Further, Professor Teachout boldly ran against Cuomo for the Democratic nomination for governor of New York back in 2014, making big strides toward becoming a household political name.

Other Democratic candidates include previous state Senator Shelley Mayer and former U.S. Assistant Attorney Daniel S. Goldman.

Teachout has emphasized the need to defend the vulnerable such as poor, working-class people and immigrants in the city from “corporate abuse” in her campaign. While Teachout has focused on the necessity of protection for people against corporations, her competitors are focusing on consumer protection in the midst of the pandemic, voter suppression and criminal justice reform.

Teachout said she will best represent the interests of the people in this role by rooting out corruption and covering an array of political concerns.

Fordham students seem to be disconnected from the election. Lorena Loza, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’25, said that she does not know much about the role of attorney general because she does not feel that it directly impacts her.

Lara Khan, also FCLC ’25, echoed the sentiments of Loza. Khan said that, to her knowledge, the attorney general is the legal representative of the state. When it comes to the election of 2022, she does not “know much because the election is not popular” as “there is very little media coverage, creating a lack of awareness surrounding it.”

Teachout said she will best represent the interests of the people in this role by rooting out corruption and covering an array of political concerns such as protecting voting rights and facing corporate greed.

She also explained how the role of attorney general is important as they “can act alone” to correct abuses of power without having to check in with Congress.

When compared to years past, Teachout also noted that the “whole political world is different in New York: Andrew Cuomo is gone, (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) toppled former Representative Joe Crowley, we have a brand new day in the State Legislature.”

Teachout is running on a platform of fixing corruption, considering herself an “anti-corruption expert” able to “lead the State out of the Cuomo era and into a new age of transparency and accountability to New Yorkers.”

Teachout explained that the election is bound to influence the city as the office “responds — rightly — to different needs at different times,” and, if elected, she can “build on the work of the current attorney general in police accountability” as well as work on other massive needs in the city.

source: https://fordhamobserver.com/66541/news/fordham-law-professor-zephyr-teachout-running-for-ny-attorney-general/

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