ERIC SCHNEIDERMAN vs. JOHN CAHILL
John Cahill faces a tough lift in taking on incumbent Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Cahill’s campaign has been characterized by pro-business, tough-on-street-crime, and anti-corruption stances. Schneiderman is depending on his record of lucrative settlements with Wall Street lawbreakers, as well as prosecutions of smaller-time white-collar and violent criminals, to push him to a second term. He has maintained a lower profile than predecessors Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo, who used his office as a stepping stone on the path to the Governor’s Mansion.
ERic SCHNEIDERMAN
DEMOCRAT, attorney general since 2010, fomer private lawyer and a Manhattan state senator from 1998 to 2010. Has locked horns with AirBnB and raked in donations from hotel industry figures.
60, divorced, one daughter.
JOHN CAHILL
REPUBLICAN, chief of staff to Gov. Pataki from 2002–2006, helmed the Department of Environmental Conservation from 1997–2001, and helped coordinate the state’s rebuilding effort following the Sept. attacks. Lives in Yonkers
56, married, 4 children.
THE CAMPAIGN
Cahill has blasted Schneiderman for failing to go after Democratic corruption in Albany, and has argued that having a Republican as the state’s top lawman would keep legislators honest. Schneiderman has cast himself as a Wall Street enforcer seeking to prevent chicanery like that which led to the economic collapse of 2008. Schneiderman has a wide lead in the polls.
— Noah Hurowitz
