Maine Attorney General

Maine Attorney General
Maine Attorney General
	Incumbent; Aaron Frey;
First holder	Erastus Foote
Website	www.maine.gov/ag/

The Maine Attorney General is the chief legal advisor and prosecutor of the State of Maine. The constitutional basis of the office is Article IX, Section 11 of the Maine Constitution, and the holder of the position is chosen biennially by the Maine Legislature in joint session.^[1] Maine is the only state to select its attorney general in such a manner;^[2] in 2023 a group of state Republicans called for the Attorney General to be selected by popular vote, though no action was taken on the proposal. ^[3]

The powers of the Attorney General are derived from the Maine Revised Statues Annotated, Title 5, Chapter 9. These include representing the State in civil actions, investigating and prosecuting homicides, advising district attorneys, and providing written opinions on matters of law at the request of the Governor or the Legislature. The Attorney General is empowered to appoint deputy and assistant attorneys general, who serve at the Attorney General's pleasure.^[4]

List of Maine Attorneys General

No.	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
1	Erastus Foote	1820	1831	Democratic-Republican
2	Jonathan P. Rogers	1832	1833	Democratic
3	Nathan Clifford	1834	1837	Democratic
4	Daniel Goodenow	1838	1838	Democratic
5	Stephen Emery	1839	1840	Democratic
6	Daniel Goodenow	1841	1841	Democratic
7	Otis L. Bridges	1842	1843	Democratic
8	Wyman B. S. Moor	1844	1847	Democratic
9	Samuel H. Blake	1848	1848	Democratic
10	Henry Tallman	1849	1852	Democratic
11	George Evans	1853	1854	Whig
12	John S. Abbott	1855	1855	Republican
13	George Evans	1856	1856	Whig
14	Nathan D. Appleton	1857	1859
15	G.W. Ingersoll	1860	1860
16	Josiah Hayden Drummond	1860	1863	Republican
17	John A. Peters	1864	1866	Republican
18	William P. Frye	1867	1869	Republican
19	Thomas Brackett Reed	1870	1872	Republican
20	Harris M. Plaisted	1873	1875	Republican
21	Lucilius A. Emery	1876	1878	Republican
22	William H. McLellan	1879	1879	Democratic^[5]^[6]
23	Henry B. Cleaves	1880	1884	Republican
24	Orville D. Baker	1885	1888	Republican
25	Charles E. Littlefield	1889	1892	Republican
26	Frederick A. Powers	1893	1896	Republican
27	William T. Haines	1897	1900	Republican
28	George M. Seiders	1901	1904	Republican
29	Hannibal Emery Hamlin	1905	1908	Republican
30	Warren C. Philbrook	1909	1910	Republican
31	Cyrus R. Tupper	1911	1911	Democratic
32	William Robinson Pattangall	1911	1912	Democratic
33	Scott Wilson	1913	1914	Republican
34	William Robinson Pattangall	1915	1916	Democratic
35	Guy H. Sturgis	1917	1920	Republican
36	Ransford W. Shaw	1921	1924	Republican
37	Raymond Fellows	1925	1928	Republican
38	Clement F. Robinson	1929	1932	Republican
39	Clyde R. Chapman	1933	1936	Republican
40	Franz U. Burkett	1937	1940	Republican
41	Frank I. Cowan	1941	1944	Republican
42	Ralph W. Farris	1945	1950	Republican
43	Alexander A. LaFleur	1951	1954	Republican
44	Frank F. Harding	1955	1958	Republican
45	Frank E. Hancock	1959	1964	Republican
46	Richard J. Dubord	1965	1966	Democratic
47	James S. Erwin	1967	1971	Republican
48	Jon A. Lund	1972	1975	Republican
49	Joseph E. Brennan	1975	1979	Democratic
50	Richard S. Cohen	1979	1981	Republican
51	James E. Tierney	1981	1991	Democratic
52	Michael E. Carpenter	1991	1995	Democratic
53	Andrew Ketterer	1995	2001	Democratic
54	G. Steven Rowe	2001	2009	Democratic
55	Janet Mills	2009	2011	Democratic
56	William Schneider	2011	2013	Republican
57	Janet Mills	2013	2019	Democratic
58	Aaron Frey	2019	present	Democratic