Delaware Attorney General

{{Short description|Head of the Delaware Department of Justice}} {{use mdy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox political post | post = Attorney General | insignia = Seal of the Attorney General of Delaware.jpg | insigniasize = 120px | body = Delaware | image = File:Kathy Jennings CFPB.png | incumbent = Kathy Jennings | incumbentsince = January 1, 2019 | residence = Wilmington, Delaware | termlength = Four years, no term limits | inaugural = Gunning Bedford Jr.<br/>February 1, 1783 | succession = Third | website = [https://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/ Delaware Department of Justice - Attorney General Office] }} The '''attorney general of Delaware''' is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Delaware, and is the chief law officer and the head of the State Department of Justice. On January 1, 2019, Kathy Jennings was sworn in as the 46th attorney general of Delaware.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.wdel.com/news/jennings-mcguiness-davis-sworn-in-to-new-elected-positions/article_dc08f9ba-0deb-11e9-bcd4-eb583f96e521.html |title=Jennings, McGuiness, Davis sworn in to new elected positions |date=January 1, 2019 |work=WDEL 101.7 FM |access-date=January 3, 2019 }}</ref>

==Description of the office== The attorney general is elected to a four-year term in the "off-year" state election along with the state treasurer and state auditor, two years before/after the election of the governor. The attorney general, the state treasurer, state auditor, and state insurance commissioner offices are intended to serve as restraints to the governor's exclusive executive authority. The attorney general office existed in various forms prior to the ratification of the Delaware Constitution of 1776, which continued the existing colonial tradition of granting the governor the power to appoint the attorney general for a five-year tenure. With the ratification of the Delaware Constitution of 1897, the post was converted to its present four-year elected form, also establishing the attorney general as third in line of succession to the office of governor, after the lieutenant governor and secretary of state.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==Officeholders== Gunning Bedford Jr. was the first holder of the office after American independence. The office was held from 2007 to 2015 by Beau Biden, who was elected in 2006 and took office on January 2, 2007. He was a Democrat and the eldest son of 46th U.S. President and longest-serving U.S. Senator from Delaware Joe Biden. {| class="wikitable" ! # ! Image ! Name ! Term of office ! Political party |- | 1 | 60px | Gunning Bedford Jr. | 1778–1790 | |- | 2 | | Nicholas Ridgely | 1790–1801 | |-{{Party shading/Federalist}} | 3 | 60px | Nicholas Van Dyke | 1801–1806 | Federalist |-{{Party shading/Federalist}} | 4 | | Outerbridge Horsey | 1806–1810 | Federalist |-{{Party shading/Federalist}} | 5 | 60px | Thomas Clayton | 1810–1815 | Federalist |- | 6 | | James Rogers | 1815–1830 | |- | 7 | | Robert Frame | 1830–1835 | |- | 8 | | James Rogers | 1835–1840 | |- | 9 | | Edward W. Gilpin | 1840–1850 | |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 10 | 60px | Willard Saulsbury Sr. | 1850–1855 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Unionist}} | 11 | 60px | George P. Fisher | 1855–1860 | Unionist |- | 12 | | Alfred Wooten | 1860–1864 | |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 13 | | Jacob Moore | 1864–1869 | Republican |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 14 | 60px | Charles B. Lore | 1869–1874 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 15 | 60px | John B. Penington | 1874–1879 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 16 | 60px | George Gray | 1879–1885 | Democratic |- | 17 | | John Henry Paynter<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://delmarhistory.blogspot.com/2017/04/judge-john-henry-paynter-of-sussex.html |title=DelMar History: JUDGE JOHN HENRY PAYNTER OF SUSSEX DELAWARE |date=April 15, 2017}}</ref> | 1885–1887 | |- | 18 | | John Biggs | 1887–1892 | |- | 19 | | John R. Nicholson | 1892–1895 | |- | 20 | | Robert C. White | 1895–1901 | |- | 21 | | Herbert H. Ward | 1901–1905 | |- | 22 | | Robert H. Richards | 1905–1909 | |- | 23 | | Andrew C. Gray | 1909–1913 | |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 24 | 60px | Josiah O. Wolcott | 1913–1917 | Democratic |- | 25 | | David J. Reinhardt | 1917–1921 | |- | 26 | | Sylvester D. Townsend Jr. | 1921–1925 | |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 27 | | Clarence A. Southerland | 1925–1929 | Republican{{cn|date=June 2023}} |- | 28 | | Reuben Satterthwaite Jr. | 1929–1933 | |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 29 | | Daniel J. Layton | 1933 | Republican |- | 30 | | P. Warren Green | 1933–1939 | |- | 31 | | James R. Morford | 1939–1943 | |- | 32 | | Clair J. Killoran | 1943–1947 | |- | 33 | | Albert W. James | 1947–1951 | |- | 34 | | H. Albert Young | 1951–1955 | |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 35 | | Joseph D. Craven | 1955–1959 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 36 | | Januar D. Bove Jr. | 1959–1963 | Republican |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 37 | 60px | David P. Buckson | 1963–1971 | Republican |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 38 | | W. Laird Stabler Jr. | 1971–1975 | Republican |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 39 | | Richard R. Wier Jr. | 1975–1979 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 40 | 60px | Richard S. Gebelein | 1979–1983 | Republican |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 41 | 60px | Charles Oberly | 1983–1995 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Republican}} | 42 | | M. Jane Brady | 1995–2005 | Republican |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 43 | 60px | Carl C. Danberg | 2005–2007 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 44 | 60px | Beau Biden | 2007–2015 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 45 | 60px | Matthew Denn | 2015–2019 | Democratic |-{{Party shading/Democratic}} | 46 | 60px | Kathy Jennings | 2019–present | Democratic |}

==See also== * State attorney general

==Sources== {{reflist}}

==References== *{{cite book |title=History of Delaware 1609-1888. 2 vols. |last=Scharf |first=John Thomas |publisher=L. J. Richards & Co |location=Philadelphia |year=1888 }} *{{cite book |title=History of the State of Delaware |last=Conrad |first=Henry C. |publisher=Wickersham Company |location=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |year=1908 }}

==External links== * [https://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/ Delaware Attorney General] official website * [http://www.abajournal.com/search/results/search&keywords=Delaware+Attorney+General/ Delaware Attorney General] articles at ''ABA Journal'' * [http://public.findlaw.com/LCsearch.html?restrict=consumer&entry=%22Delaware+Attorney+General%22 News and Commentary] at FindLaw * [http://law.justia.com/codes/delaware/ Delaware Code] at Law.Justia.com * [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&navby=title&v1=State+of+Delaware U.S. Supreme Court Opinions - "Cases with title containing: State of Delaware"] at FindLaw * [http://www.dsba.org/ Delaware State Bar Association] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150221190453/http://www.naag.org/naag/attorneys-general/whos-my-ag/delaware/matthew-denn.php Delaware Attorney General Matthew Denn profile] at National Association of Attorneys General * [https://news.delaware.gov/category/justice/ Press releases] at State of Delaware news (news.delaware.gov)

Category:Delaware attorneys general Category:Delaware law-related lists