Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell is running for reelection in 2026, saying she wants to continue both her fights against the Trump administration in court and her consumer protection work back home.
“Massachusetts deserves an attorney general who leads with empathy, compassion, and a sense of urgency, and a deep belief that this job is about more than enforcing the law,” Campbell said Tuesday morning. “It is about making life better for people who far too often feel left out and left behind.”
With a small group of supporters clustered around her, Campbell made her announcement from a park in the South End, near where she grew up in affordable housing.
Campbell, a Democrat, was first elected in 2022, a year after her third-place finish in a Boston mayoral race. She became the first Black woman elected to statewide office in Massachusetts.
In her announcement Tuesday, Campbell cited her office’s work to fight wage theft and utility hikes, lawsuits against Meta and TikTok over youth mental health concerns and many legal challenges to the Trump administration – nearly 40 lawsuits, she said, including efforts to keep federal funding in Massachusetts and to preserve birthright citizenship.
Campbell in her first term has also robustly defended the controversial state law, known as the MBTA Communities Act, that requires denser zoning near transit stations. She’s been locked in a public standoff with state Auditor Diana DiZoglio, as DiZoglio seeks to carry out her voter-authorized audit of the Massachusetts Legislature.
Both could become issues on the campaign trail, with the legislative audit in particular a popular cause among Republicans and reform-minded progressives.
A GOP candidate has not yet emerged to challenge Campbell.
Democrats have held the Massachusetts attorney general’s office for decades. The last Republican AG was Elliot Richardson, who stepped down in 1969 to join President Richard Nixon’s cabinet.
Campbell’s move to Dartmouth last year sparked speculation she might be mulling a future run for the seat now held by U.S. Rep. Bill Keating.
In what is shaping up to be an active election year in Massachusetts, Campbell said she opted to seek another term in the same office because she sees more work to do.
“I love my job as attorney general and I of course want to keep it,” she said. “And I recognize we’ve accomplished great work, especially in the area of affordability and federal accountability, yet still so many families are still living paycheck to paycheck. Young people are still struggling.”
