Republican Attorneys General Association

Republican Attorneys General Association
Basic facts
Website:	Official website

The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) states that it "is the only national organization whose mission is electing Republicans to the Office of Attorney General." The organization focuses on:

• recruiting candidates
• offering research and financial backing
• developing campaigns

"In doing so, the RAGA is improving the talent base from which many future Governors and U.S. Senators will be drawn," according to the group's website.

Background

RAGA was originally formed in 1999. In 2002, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) was formed, of which RAGA operated as a branch. In January 2014, plans to establish RAGA as its own independent entity were announced and executed.

When RAGA was formed in 1999, there were 12 Republican attorneys general. At the end of 2014, there were 27 Republican attorneys general.

Leadership

Executive committee

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi was the chairman of the RAGA executive committee in 2014-2015. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette was elected to serve as the chairman in 2015-2016, and Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange was chosen as the 2016-2017 chairman.

Pam Bondi

Bill Schuette

Luther Strange

As of 2015, the other executive committee members were:

• Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens
• South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson
• Montana Attorney General Tim Fox
• Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt
• West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey
• Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes

RAGA Political, "RAGA: Then and Now," January 22, 2014

Finance

Contributions

2014 cycle

In the 2014, two-year election cycle, $27,372,269 was provided to the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Of this, at least $16 million was raised in 2014.

Past funding

The contributions made to RAGA in 2014 amounted to nearly four times the $4.5 million raised in 2010 and dwarfed the $470,000 raised by the organization in 2002.

Expenditures

2014 cycle

According to Center for Responsive Politics data for the 2014 election cycle, the first cycle since 2002 in which RAGA operated as a separate entity, the organization spent $24,271,469. Of this total, about:

• $10.5 million was spent on media, including ads, broadcasting, consultation and other media-related expenditures;
• $3.8 million was spent on administrative costs;
• $3.5 million was directly contributed to other organizations or PACs; and
• $2.1 million was spent on salaries;

The remaining $4,371,469 was put towards other expenses, which included such categories as fundraising, research costs, campaign expenses, events, infrastructure and office supply expenditures.

This information was compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics according to data released by the Internal Revenue Service on January 27, 2015.

Republican attorneys general

Below is a list of the 10 current Republican state attorneys general.

Office title	Officeholder name	Date assumed office	Party affiliation
Attorney General of Alabama	Steve Marshall	February 10, 2017	Republican Party
Attorney General of Alaska	Treg Taylor	May 11, 2021	Republican Party
Attorney General of Arkansas	Tim Griffin	January 10, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Georgia	Chris Carr	November 1, 2016	Republican Party
Attorney General of Idaho	Raúl Labrador	January 2, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Indiana	Todd Rokita	January 11, 2021	Republican Party
Attorney General of Iowa	Brenna Bird	January 2, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Kansas	Kris Kobach	January 9, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Kentucky	Russell Coleman	January 1, 2024	Republican Party
Attorney General of Louisiana	Liz Murrill	January 8, 2024	Republican Party
Attorney General of Mississippi	Lynn Fitch	January 9, 2020	Republican Party
Attorney General of Missouri	Andrew Bailey	January 3, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Montana	Austin Knudsen	January 4, 2021	Republican Party
Attorney General of Nebraska	Mike Hilgers	January 5, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of New Hampshire	John Formella	April 22, 2021	Republican Party
Attorney General of North Dakota	Drew Wrigley	February 9, 2022	Republican Party
Attorney General of Ohio	Dave Yost	January 14, 2019	Republican Party
Attorney General of Oklahoma	Gentner Drummond	January 9, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Pennsylvania	Dave Sunday	January 21, 2025	Republican Party
Attorney General of South Carolina	Alan Wilson	January 12, 2011	Republican Party
Attorney General of South Dakota	Marty J. Jackley	January 2, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Tennessee	Jonathan Skrmetti	September 1, 2022	Republican Party
Attorney General of Texas	Ken Paxton	September 18, 2023	Republican Party
Attorney General of Utah	Derek Brown	January 7, 2025	Republican Party
Attorney General of Virginia	Jason Miyares	January 15, 2022	Republican Party
Attorney General of West Virginia	John B. McCuskey	January 13, 2025	Republican Party
Attorney General of Wyoming	Bridget Hill	March 15, 2019	Republican Party

Republican Attorneys General Association, "RAGA: States' Rights," January 22, 2014

Issues and accomplishments

Bolstering states' rights and reducing the power of the federal government is one of RAGA's main principles. In a video released by the organization, several members explained RAGA's stance on this, its anchor issue. The video featured Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said, "We are experiencing an overreach by the federal government that has never been seen before." Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens followed with, "That's not American; that's not the Constitution." Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt claimed, "A strong state federal system really is one of the great guarantors of liberty." Schmidt concluded by saying, "RAGA is about giving us the forum so that Republican AGs who are of like mind have the ability to stand up together and say to Washington, 'enough.'"

As of May 12, 2015, RAGA listed the following as some chief actions and achievements of the organization and Republican attorneys general:

“	Republican attorneys general scored a major victory against Obamacare that allowed states to choose whether or not to participate in Medicaid expansion. They also have pending suits challenging the ability of the IRS to enforce certain provisions and assess penalties in the 34 states without state health exchanges. They have sued the EPA [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] over its egregious proposal to unreasonably pick and choose sources of energy and, in a separate suit, are fighting the EPA’s attempt to vastly expand control over “waters of the U.S.” Republican attorneys general have challenged the constitutionality of Dodd-Frank. Arizona won a successful challenge against the National Labor Relations Board which challenged the state’s constitutional amendment guaranteeing worker’s rights to vote by secret ballot on whether to join a union. This case set valuable precedent that will allow these issues to be resolved at the state, not federal, level. Republican AGs played a pivotal role in defeating the NLRB's politically motivated attempt to disallow Boeing's business expansion in South Carolina. Republican AGs have called for tougher laws to prevent patent trolls from stifling American innovation.	”
—RAGA

See also

• Republican State Leadership Committee
• National Association of Attorneys General
• Democratic Attorneys General Association

External links

Suggest a link

• Website of the Republican Attorneys General Association
• Website of the Republican State Leadership Committee

Footnotes

This state official-related article is in the process of being updated.