Violation of the HATCH Act by Attorney General Todd Blanche
Office of Special Counsel
1730 M Street, N.W.
Suite 218
Washington, D.C. 20036-4505
[email protected]
RE: Violation of the HATCH Act by Attorney General Todd Blanche
On August 14, 2026, Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke at a campaign rally in Long Island, New York, for the primary effort of boosting the gubernatorial campaign of the Republican candidate Nassau County Bruce Blakeman. Blanch was identified as the current U.S. Attorney General and specifically praised the credentials of New York gubernatorial candidate Blakeman.
“We just heard from our great Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman who’s doing everything we need him to do to back the blue, support law enforcement and to make this county a safe county that we can all raise our kids in,” said Blanche at the rally before the Nassau County police department. The rally was cast as a campaign rally for Blakeman. Though Blanche did not specifically say “vote for,” his participation in the campaign rally along with President Donald Trump constitutes an active endorsement of the Republican candidate.
This partisan political activity by Blanche at a campaign rally constitutes a violation of the Hatch Act [5 U.S.C. § 1216 (a)(1)(2)].
The Attorney General is a position classified as “further restricted employee” under the Hatch Act. It is illegal for a further restricted employee to take an active part in partisan political management or partisan political campaigns. Specifically, these employees may not campaign for or against candidates or otherwise engage in political activity in concert with a political party, a candidate for partisan political office, or a partisan political group. Such employees may not take an active part in partisan political campaigns, by, for example:
- Campaigning for or against a candidate or slate of candidates.
- Making campaign speeches or engaging in other campaign activities to elect partisan candidates.
- Use their official titles or positions while engaged in political activity.
- Engage in political activity, i.e., activity directed at the success or failure of a political party, candidate for partisan political office, or partisan political group, while the employee is on duty.
In all likelihood, FBI Director Kash Patel – who also participated in the rally – may have violated the Hatch Act as well, but there is no available record of Patel’s speech.
Public Citizen therefore requests that the Office of Special Counsel investigate the political activity of Attorney General Todd Blanche at the campaign rally for violating the Hatch Act, determine an appropriate remedy and instruct Blanche on the perimeters of the law.
Sincerely,
Craig Holman, Ph.D.
Government affairs lobbyist
Public Citizen
215 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
(202) 454-5182
[email protected]