Khurram Dara, a former policy advisor at Cryptocurrency Exchange Coinbase, is considering running as New York State Attorney General in 2026, and is looking to replace Letitia James.
In a comment to the Cointelegraph, Dara said he has not yet decided whether to run for state law enforcement, but suggested that digital assets could play a role in his campaign if he chose to do so.
More than a year before the election, Columbia Law School graduates have already appeared on social media in support of Tornado Cash co-founder Roma Storm, who pleaded guilty in federal court in New York in August and chased numbers like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who links illegal activities and codes.
“My platform is certainly focused on ending the low fairs across the board, including Crypto,” Dara said. “We had just had so many elections in the vote, and we won. However, as the federal regulatory environment has changed and resolved, AGs in some states believe it is their role to work effectively as national policymakers or regulators in the perceived “gap” of federal policy (…). ”
The current Attorney General of New York, who took office in 2019, has taken several legal action against cryptocurrencies on behalf of affected New Yorkers, including Genesis, former Celsius CEO Alex Maskie, trading company Novatek and Kucoin.
The US state is home to headquarters such as Gemini, Galaxy Digital and Chain Orisis as domestic commercial hubs, and AG’s position is important in how the office handles rules and enforcement regarding digital assets.
Related: New York AG urges Congress to increase protections on crypto bills
“We see the true dangers of unregulated cryptocurrency platforms with such schemes,” James mentioned the allegations against Novatec in June 2024.
Cointelegraph reached out to James’ campaign for comments but did not receive a response at the time of publication. As of Wednesday, she had not announced that she would run for reelection in 2026.
Another Republican lawyer challenging the Democratic incumbent
Dara, 36, who works for the Foreign Relations Council, has never served an elected role. He was an intern in the New York State Senate in 2006, an intern in the Republican Thomas Reynolds office in the US House of Representatives in 2008, and a clerk in the US Power of Attorney in 2012.
If he decides to run as a Republican, he will not be the first candidate to have a crypto company filed a lawsuit to challenge the founded Democrats.
John Deaton, the lawyer who defended XRP (XRP) token holders in a lawsuit against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Ripple Labs, faced Warren in the 2024 election in Massachusetts. Warren defeated Deaton in about 74% of the vote.
“New York is where many people from Crypto, Tech and Venture want to be here. “I think the nation should accept it rather than trying to escape from it (…) the crypto community doesn’t want special treatment or special policies that like them. They just don’t want to be unfairly targeted by litigation regulations.”
A Siena University poll from December 2024 reportedly gave James a 40% positive rating among New Yorkers. As of August, the other candidate to throw his hat into the ring at New York AG in 2026 was Republican Michael Henry, who lost to James in 2022, with about 45% of the votes.
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