Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has been elected as chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association, making him the third statewide official from Kansas to lead a national group of elected leaders this year.
“It is a great honor to have been selected by my 27 colleagues to lead the organization of Republican attorneys general that has been so pivotal in stopping unconstitutional actions of the Biden-Harris administration,” Kobach said in a statement.
“The last four years have demonstrated just how important state attorneys general are when the executive branch defies the Constitution or the law, and Congress is unable or unwilling to act,” he said.
In addition to Kobach, the group elected South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson as vice chairman.
Kobach is now the third Kansan to lead a national coalition of elected officials during 2024.
Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly now chairs the Democratic Governors Association, and in 2023 Republican Secretary of State Scott Schwab became president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. Schwab’s term ended in July.
In a statement, RAGA said that GOP attorneys general have filed 183 lawsuits, 15 motions to intervene in lawsuits, and mailed 234 warning letters aimed at stopping Biden administration rules and regulations.
Kobach has either filed or joined in at least 30 lawsuits against the Biden administration, covering areas ranging from guns and immigration to abortion and gender discrimination.
Of those lawsuits, Kobach’s office has led seven, including a challenge to Biden’s student loan program and a rule that prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation at federally funded schools.
Kobach most recently joined a lawsuit against a new Biden administration rule that extends legal protections for gender dysphoria under federal laws that prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities.
Kobach has had successes in nine of those lawsuits so far and has been dealt setbacks in five others.
Three years ago, the Republican Attorney General’s Association was in the news when it was reported that a fundraising arm of the group sent out robocalls encouraging people to march to the U.S. Capitol the day before the building was stormed on Jan. 6.
NBC News reported the calls, which did not promoted violence, was sent out by the Rule of Law Defense Fund, a fundraising offshoot of the Republican Attorneys General Association.
The groups share funding, staff and office space in Washington, D.C.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who oversaw the fund at the time, told NBC that the calls were sent out without his knowledge.
The Republican Attorneys General Association is a 527 nonprofit organization formed under Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, which grants tax-exempt status to political committees at the national, state and local level.
These type of groups play a role in influencing elections and policy debates but don’t advocate explicitly for the election or defeat of candidates.
Federal tax records show that it raised $6.3 million from April 1 through June while spending almost $2 million.
The group’s top contributors include The Concord Fund, which gave $1 million, and Bernard Marcus, the cofounder of Home Depot, who gave $500,000 and the Rule of Law Defense Fund, which gave $456,772, federal tax records show.
The Concord Fund also gave a $90,000 contribution to Kobach’s Prairie Fire PAC, which has been taking on a role in legislative races this year.
The Concord Fund has been linked to Leonard Leo, longtime leader of the Federalist Society credited as one of the country’s leading conservatives trying shape the nation’s courts.
Federal tax records show Leo is the chair of Marble Freedom Trust, which reported giving $55.5 million to the Concord Fund between May 1, 2022 and April 30, 2023.
