Former Assistant AG Quentin Palfrey joins AG race

Former Assistant Attorney General Quentin Palfrey formally announced his expected candidacy for attorney general Friday, as an opponent, former Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, reported raising $100,000 in 24 hours.

In his introductory statement, Palfrey pledged to "protect consumers from predatory lenders and scammers, confront the structural racism that plagues our criminal justice system, take steps to protect workers from wage theft, and focus on helping people to vote. And as we face the existential threat of climate change I will bring urgency to our efforts to combat the impacts."

Palfrey was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018, running on a general election ticket with Jay Gonzalez that was defeated by Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. He had beaten Jimmy Tingle in the Democratic lieutenant governor primary.

Over his career, he has worked as health care division chief in the attorney general's office, in President Obama's White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as acting general counsel for the Department of Commerce under President Joe Biden.

For nearly 20 years, Palfrey worked as an election protection attorney, and in 2019 he founded Voter Protection Corps, a nonprofit that works to increase voting access in the states.

Attorney General Maura Healey announced in January that she would be seeking the governorship, leaving an open seat for her job. Campbell announced her candidacy for AG earlier this week and issued a press release Friday morning touting her fundraising numbers. "I'm in awe of the love and support I've received during the first day of this campaign," she said. Labor attorney and former U.S. Senate candidate Shannon Liss-Riordan had announced her own bid for the attorney general's office last week.

On the communications front, Palfrey is working with Joe Caiazzo, partner at the JCN Group who has done campaign work for Democrats Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Sheldon Whitehouse.