Office of Rep. Maloney

Rep. Sean P. Maloney with anti-gun protesters earlier this year.

A dozen years after his first try to become the state’s top law-enforcement official, Sean Patrick Maloney comes to this year’s race for attorney general as a three-term Congressman from a swing district in the Hudson Valley with a blistering critique of the Democratic party as a gun-shy organization that’s letting President Trump “get away with murder.”

Battling Trump is clearly what Maloney sees as job No. 1 for the state AG. As for whether national Democrats might be hurt by his leaving his seat and risking it going red, Maloney says he’s not worried about the Democrats retaining it if he wins the September 13 primary for attorney general, where he faces Public Advocate Letitia James, former state official Leecia Eve and law professor Zephyr Teachout.

Speaking with Ben Max and me on Wednesday, Maloney talked a little more about what his criticism of the Democrats really means, how the AG might crack down on corruption, and how he’d navigate the tension between personal beliefs and the role of the attorney general as the state’s lawyer.

Our conversation with the congressman is below, as is the full show, which also features interviews with State Senate rivals Sen. Tony Avella and former Comptroller John Liu: