With the race for attorney general of New York State coming down to the wire, only one thing is certain: The result will make history. Whether the winner is the Democratic candidate, Letitia (Tish) James, or her Republican opponent, Keith Wofford, whoever prevails will be the first attorney general and highest-ever statewide elected official from New York’s black community.

Nor do the comparisons between the two candidates end with their shared ethnicity. Wofford, 49, and James, 60, both rose from humble roots to pursue prominent careers, he as a bankruptcy attorney and co-managing partner at the large Manhattan law firm of Ropes & Gray, she in a series of public sector posts: city councilwoman, assistant attorney general, and most recently, New York City Public Advocate.

The two are nearly tied in the fundraising sweepstakes, too, with each having raised well over $1 million, much of it coming from donors in New York’s real estate and financial services industries. The most recent polling results, released on October 1, show Wofford trailing James by 14 points, but although sizable, that’s a much smaller lead than that in any of the other statewide races. The same poll, for example, showed Governor Andrew Cuomo ahead of his GOP challenger, Marc Molinaro, by 22 points.

The contest between Wofford and James has attracted interest for the rarity of two black candidates vying for attorney general. But some point to the money flowing into the race as evidence that it’s also a proxy battle over the stance of the Attorney General’s office vis-à-vis the Trump administration.

The previous attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, who resigned the post earlier this year amid scandal, filed numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration on everything from immigration to the environment, and Tish James seems prepared to continue in that vein. Keith Wofford calls such litigation a diversion of state resources to matters irrelevant to New York’s taxpayers. He says, however, that he would look into allegations published recently in the New York Times that Trump and his family had engaged in systematic tax fraud.

A breakdown of the polling numbers shows that each candidate is favored overwhelmingly by members of his or her own party, which accounts for James’s lead in this overwhelmingly Democratic state. But with James leading by only two points, 40%–38%, among independents, it is to that group of voters that Wofford will have to make his pitch if he is to overtake his opponent in the closing days of the campaign.

Can an unabashed Republican close the gap between now and Election Day to be victorious in a deep-blue state like New York, particularly in a year in which Democrats are hoping to make significant gains in statehouses nationwide? Mishpacha caught up with Keith Wofford in the midst of a hectic day of campaigning for a conversation about why he’s running to become New York’s chief legal officer and why he thinks New Yorkers will opt for him.

The saying goes, “Be careful of what you ask for — because you just might get it.” Do you really want to be the lone Republican officeholder in what will likely be another Democratic state administration under Governor Cuomo?

“Let’s speak about dealing with challenges: I grew up on the east side of Buffalo, New York, which is a pretty gritty place, very working class; we lived about a block and a half from freight railroad tracks. So the challenge of getting from there to sitting here and being in a position to do this —getting into college at Harvard on scholarship, then going to law school at Harvard, going to a firm, making partner and building a pretty big practice and becoming managing partner — there have been a whole lot of challenges, so this is nothing new. The ability to deal with those challenges is a product of my parents’ hard work, and focusing on the important things, instead of distractions: education and hard work. So this is just like all those other challenges.

“And we’re going to prevail with the voters because the issues I’m talking about aren’t partisan issues, they’re common-sense ones. Nobody — Democrat or Republican — wants a government that steals from us. No one — Republican or Democrat — wants public schools that fail large percentages of the kids in our cities, that don’t teach 70% to 80% of African-American and Latino kids, particularly boys, how to read and do math. No one thinks those things are acceptable.

“Nor does anyone think it’s acceptable for the state’s attorney general to drive businesses out of the state, losing jobs and tax dollars, by threatening with criminal liability people who didn’t do anything criminal just to get a headline or a press release and move up politically. So we’ve got to stop doing these things and start doing the right things, like going after corruption in government. We’ve got to put a stop to the rigging of contract bids and the awarding of projects as payback to political donors who pay to play.”

Wofford’s campaign has emphasized the dual themes of tamping down the aggressive prosecution of financial sector crime that recent attorneys general engaged in, and cracking down harder instead on the endemic corruption in New York state government. He argues that both overzealous prosecution of the business community and failure to root out crooked political deal-making has driven businesses away and cost New York taxpayers dearly. When pressed, however, he does not identify specific companies that have left the state for these particular reasons, pointing instead to the population drop in upstate counties since the last census.

It’s no surprise, then, that much of Wofford’s financial backing has come from Wall Street, which appreciates his criticism of the Martin Act, a state law permitting prosecution of securities fraud without first proving intent to cause harm. If wielded indiscriminately, he says, it gives the attorney general “incredible discretion to bring charges based upon flimsy or nonexistent grievances.” Indeed, Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former chairman of insurance giant AIG who fought a decade-long legal battle with then–attorney general Elliot Spitzer over alleged Martin Act violations, recently helped host a fundraiser for Wofford that brought in close to $300,000.

You’re a Republican and voted [for Donald Trump] in 2016, yet you also voted for Barack Obama and even contributed to his campaign and inauguration. What does this record say about you?

“What it’s reflective of is a ferocious independence. I do what I think is right. I built what I built with the help of my parents and family, but I don’t owe these politicians anything. When I’m elected, I’m not going to conduct myself for the benefit of the politicians, but for the benefit of the people. Even though I’m a Republican in principle and practice and have been since the ’90s, I’ve contributed to people on both sides over the years.

“You know, Obama ran on uniting Americans and won a very strong majority in 2008 on uniting America and improving the nation together and reducing health care costs. Well, obviously, he fell short on all of those things. But I haven’t given up on the notion that we need to get things done in this country together because we always have, and we do more when we do things that way. I really am focused on building a nonpartisan attorney general’s office where we do what’s best under the law for the people of the state.”

If New York’s citizens all want the same issues addressed and both parties need to work together to achieve them, what recommends you over your Democratic opponent?

“Look, the truth of the matter is that I’m independent and my opponent is not. I don’t have my debts to pay to politicians and I don’t have to worry about moving up and getting the next political job and the next one and the one after that. I already have a career. So when I take this job on behalf of the people of New York State, they’ll know clearly that I’ll work for them and no one else.

“My opponent can’t say she’ll go and deal with political corruption on both sides of the street. She’s very good on one side of the street, but there are lots of issues she doesn’t talk about because they involve people on her own side. For example: African-American and Latino homeowners having Bill de Blasio take their properties without compensation in Brooklyn and Queens; the New York City Housing Authority poisoning its residents with lead; and all the people in Albany being led off in orange jumpsuits for taking bribes and rigging contracts.

“If Andrew Cuomo is re-elected — although I hope he isn’t — there’s got to be someone who keeps an eye on him — and Tish James isn’t going to do it. She’s Cuomo’s handpicked candidate, so she isn’t going to turn around and investigate what his administration is doing. She claims she’s independent, but I will be independent in a way she never would be.”

For her part, Ms. James points to the dozen suits she brought during her tenure as public advocate (some of which, however, were thrown out of court), which the New York Post called “a first-rate job holding Mayor Bill de Blasio to account.” She also contends that currently, the attorney general is not empowered to expend significant resources to investigate corruption in government without the governor’s sign-off, and says she will seek a change in the law to give the attorney general’s office investigative powers independent of the governor.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 733)