Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, a Republican, has won re-election multiple times in a state where the GOP dominates politically and, in his telling, has “a 20-year track record of calling balls and strikes fairly and squarely.”
That may not be enough for him to survive a GOP primary challenge and keep his seat. Wasden was one of seven Republican attorneys general to opt against joining an ill-fated challenge of the 2020 presidential election results in other states. And last fall, he declined to join other GOP attorneys general in a letter to President Joe Biden complaining about vaccine mandates, although he ended up joining lawsuits against several of them.
His more moderate positions have put him at odds with a growing share of Republicans who chafe at COVID-19 restrictions and repeat the false claim that widespread fraud cost former President Donald Trump re-election. Wasden is facing two challengers who are to his right in the Republican primary as he seeks a sixth term as the state’s top government lawyer.
One of the challengers, Arthur McComber, said a key function of the attorney general’s role is to act as a watchdog against federal power — something he said Wasden hasn’t done enough.
“It’s basically a misunderstanding of the attorney general position,” said McComber, a real estate lawyer.
The challenge to Wasden from within his own party is emblematic of the broader far-right shift within the GOP. Similar dynamics are permeating races for attorney general across the country as an office often referred to as “the people’s lawyer” — responsible in most states for criminal prosecutions and consumer protections — has become increasingly consumed by ideological battles.
Seats for attorneys general are up in 30 states this year. Some of the most likely to attract heavy spending will be in political battlegrounds such as Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, states that again are expected to play outsized roles in the 2024 presidential contest.
Republicans currently hold 27 attorneys general seats. Paul Nolette, a Marquette University political scientist who studies the office, said Republicans could bump that number to 30 or more in a midterm election year when Republicans are primed to do well in races up and down the ballot.
They’ve already notched an early victory. Last fall, voters ousted the incumbent Democratic attorney general in Virginia, a state that had been leaning increasingly Democratic in recent years. It was part of a GOP wave in the state that also saw the party claim the governor’s office and one house of the legislature.
Nolette said party affiliation matters for the office more than it used to: “The office has really become like other statewide offices at this point — highly polarized.”
For Democrats, there is increasing concern that a Republican wave in this year’s elections could sweep Democratic governors, secretaries of state and attorneys general out of power in crucial presidential battleground states. Steve Bullock, a Democrat who has served as attorney general and governor in Montana, warned that a rogue attorney general could undermine election results.
“How can they mess with it if they don’t actually believe in the rule of law? Both in affirmatively bringing action and defensively failing to defend the states’ interest,” he said.
While secretaries of state oversee elections in most states, attorneys general can play pivotal roles in the aftermath, as demonstrated in 2020.
