New York Attorney General Letitia James still holds a double-digit advantage in her bid for a third term, but a new poll shows the prominent Trump adversary losing ground to a Republican challenger whom most voters barely know.
James leads former federal prosecutor Saritha Komatireddy 52% to 39% among likely voters, according to a Siena University poll released Wednesday.
That 13-point margin is down from James’ 18-point advantage in August, when she led 54% to 36%. In the span of a month, James slipped two points while Komatireddy gained three.
The shift narrowed the gap in a heavily Democratic state, but it does not mean the race is suddenly tied. James remains above 50%, and the poll’s roughly four-point margin of error means the month-to-month change should be viewed cautiously.
Low Name Recognition Shapes The Race
Komatireddy’s biggest challenge may also be her clearest opportunity: 71% of likely voters said they had either never heard of her or did not know enough to form an opinion. Her favorability rating stood at just 17%, with 12% viewing her unfavorably—the same result Siena recorded in August.
James, by contrast, is one of the most recognizable figures in New York politics. Her favorability rating was 51% positive and 40% negative, a slight decline from 52% to 38% the previous month.
Siena pollster Steven Greenberg said both candidates have secured more than 80% of voters within their own parties. Independents leaned toward James by a narrow 43% to 40% margin.
The most dramatic regional movement came in New York City. James still held a commanding 62% to 26% lead there, but that was substantially smaller than her 71% to 20% advantage in August. Siena found James maintaining narrower leads upstate and in the downstate suburbs.
Greenberg said the results left James ahead among independents and in each major region of the state, while Komatireddy entered the final weeks of the campaign with low name recognition.
Trump Feud Shapes The Contest
James’ long-running feud with President Donald Trump has made the attorney general’s race a contest with national overtones.
Her office brought the civil fraud case against Trump, his company and several executives. A New York trial judge imposed a penalty that grew to nearly $500 million with interest. In 2025, a divided state appeals court vacated the financial penalty as excessive while leaving the fraud finding and other restrictions in place.
Trump has repeatedly accused James of pursuing him for political reasons. James has defended the case as a lawful enforcement action and pointed to the surviving fraud judgment as validation of her office’s work.
Komatireddy has made public safety a centerpiece of her campaign. The former Eastern District of New York prosecutor has handled terrorism, cybercrime, narcotics and fraud cases, later served as chief of staff at the Drug Enforcement Administration, and clerked for then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, according to her campaign biography.
She has also proposed creating an Office of Civil Commitment to coordinate law-enforcement and medical responses involving people with severe mental illness who may pose a danger to themselves or others. James’ campaign called the plan “an empty proposal,” while defending the incumbent’s work on hospital discharge planning, supportive housing and treatment programs, according to the Times Union.
The same poll found Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul leading Republican Bruce Blakeman 50% to 41%, little changed from her 49% to 39% advantage in August.
Siena surveyed 1,144 likely New York voters from Sept. 11 through Sept. 17. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points for the core questions and plus or minus 4.2 points among the 991 respondents who completed the entire survey.
