Fresh off a fiery political debate last week, Republican challenger Saritha Komatireddy on Oct. 15 laid out a plan for her first hundred days in office if elected to replace incumbent New York Attorney General Leticia James.
Komatireddy told billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman in an interview that she would close state-funded supervised drug injection sites, redirect opioid settlement money toward residential treatment facilities, and audit every homeless shelter nonprofit in New York for fraud.
“We need to make sure the shelters are safe,” she said. “They can become hubs for crime and drugs. In addition to safe shelters, we need to provide residential treatment for people.”
The New York State Republican Party hosted the online event on X, with Ackman moderating. Ackman founded Pershing Square Capital Management and spent $1.75 million opposing the election of Zohran Mamdani in the 2025 New York mayoral race. Mamdani, who won that election with 50.78 percent of the vote, is supported by the Democratic Party, the Working Families Party, and the Democratic Socialists of America.
In her opening statement, Komatireddy said she believes public safety in New York has totally deteriorated and, as a mother of four children, she was motivated to leave her job as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY) to make positive changes politically.
“We’ve seen the increase in lawlessness and disorder around us,” she said. “I just knew that I had what it takes to solve that issue. I looked around and saw there were no prosecutors running for Attorney General, and I decided to do it.”
Komatireddy said she wants judicial officers to consider whether a suspect in custody is a danger to society before releasing them.
“I’ll be a leader in ensuring that prosecutors are actually prosecuting cases and that judges get to judge,” said Komatireddy.
In 2023, legislators amended laws governing bail to exclude considerations of dangerousness from pre-trial decision-making in an effort to address economic and racial disparities in New York’s jail population, according to Data Collaborative for Justice.
Komatireddy previously worked as chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) under President Joe Biden.
She defends her prior work in the Biden administration and said that she is a law enforcement professional, not a partisan politician.
“I’m someone who’s worked for Democrats and Republicans and with Democrats and Republicans,” Komatireddy said. “I’ve worked under three administrations, ten U.S. attorneys, and I don’t think that public safety is political.”
Born in Brooklyn on Coney Island, Komatireddy said her father was from a small village in India that had no running water or electricity.
After graduating from Harvard College with an undergraduate degree, she attended Harvard Law School where she received her Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, in 2009.
“I bring a unique perspective,” she told X listeners who attended the Q&A online. “I have real experience in the law enforcement community as a federal prosecutor for 12 years.”
President Donald Trump endorsed Komatireddy in a Truth Social Post on Aug. 14.
“It is my Great Honor to endorse America First Patriot, Saritha Komatireddy, who is running to be the next Attorney General of New York,” he said.
Komatireddy has also received the endorsement of police unions in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and the police union that represents the New York State Troopers, a police union for New York corrections officers, and Ray Kelly, who was commissioner of the New York Police Department from 1992 to 1994 and 2002 to 2013.
Members of the public who attended the X interview expressed concern, however, over Komatireddy’s ability, as a conservative, to forge a productive relationship with Mamdani and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Komatireddy had a ready answer.
“I will work with anyone who wants a safer New York, and that really should be everyone,” she said. “We may have differences in policy, and that’s always something we can talk through.”
When asked about abortion, she vowed to defend state law ensuring access to it. Abortion is enshrined in the state constitution and was legalized statewide in 1970 by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller.
“New York law provides women with access to abortion and protects that access and has for decades, even before Roe v. Wade, that will not change,” Komatireddy said. “If I’m attorney general, I’m going to uphold and defend that law.”
Early voting for the general election starts Saturday, Oct. 24, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
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