If Keir Bradford-Grey becomes Pennsylvania’s next Attorney General, one of the Commonwealth’s last electoral hurdles will finally be cleared.
By Denise Clay-Murray
Anyone who follows electoral politics in Pennsylvania knows that running for office as a woman in the Commonwealth is not an easy road.
For example, Democrats did relatively well in 2016 with the exception of two: Senate candidate Katie McGinty and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
For women of color, that road is even less traveled. Unlike many of the states surrounding it, a woman of color has yet to hold a statewide row office in Pennsylvania. Current Councilmember Nina Ahmad was the last woman of color to attempt a statewide run when she ran for auditor general in 2020.
This year, Keir Bradford-Grey has decided to make a run for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. Current AG Michelle Henry has decided not to run for a four-year term in the office, so the seat is open.
While history would indicate that being Black and being a woman is a double whammy, Bradford-Grey believes otherwise.
“I’m using it as my strength,” she said. “I hope that despite the odds, people see that there are possibilities and that people deserve to have the ability to use their skills and talents so that people’s lives can improve. And I hope everyone who has felt doubted, or underappreciated and devalued, can really feel proud because they see a shining example of what’s possible. Now, I can’t change anyone’s biases. But I can change their perspective if they’re prone to being open-minded.
Toward that end, Bradford-Grey has been crisscrossing the Commonwealth to share her message with voters. The SUN spoke with her after a day of canvassing to find out what made the former chief defender for the Defenders Association and current partner at Montgomery McCracken decide to try and become the first Black person to be the Commonwealth’s top lawyer.
SUN: Thanks so much for giving us some of your time today. I guess that my first question for you is what made you decide to run?
KBG: I’ve always had a protector’s spirit. When I was with the Defenders Office, I saw myself as the people’s lawyer. The role of the attorney general is a natural progression for me in terms of how I want to use my law degree to protect people in so many areas of their lives, not just the criminal element, but also the sophisticated practices that are done by businesses, that the discrimination and harm done by government entities and agencies. As a defender, I really couldn’t do that because I didn’t have the breadth and the scope of jurisdiction to deal with it. This role allows me that opportunity.
SUN: Now, you’ve said that as a former public defender, you have an understanding of what people are going through. What other experience other than that do you think you could bring to the office that your opponents couldn’t?
KBG: I bring my experience living as a Black woman in this country. I bring the experience of being someone who has grown up with very little means that has had to provide for a family, the experience of being denied opportunities for wealth, and some things that really feel unfair. These are the areas that people deal with in life, and of course, living in communities that have been strangled by crime. I know what it feels like on both ends. My depth of knowledge comes from my parents, watching them fight against big systems just to provide a better opportunity for me than they had for themselves. I was the first in my family to go to college. We lived in neighborhoods that had drug issues, social issues, and gang issues. So, everything about me, my vantage point in life, and of course, professionally, is different. And it allows me to see more issues and use the role to address more problems.
SUN: This is your first time running for office and you’re running against a pretty big slate of candidates. What has that been like?
KBG: It’s been a whole amazing learning experience for me, let’s start with that. Very humbling. But very, I feel like I’m so much better for it, in terms of an awareness of what the communities across the state are really like, versus what my perception of them. People are receptive to me because they realize that I want to do this for very genuine reasons. This is not about a position, this is about a commitment to making sure I use my degree, my skills, my talents, my awareness, my perspective, my passion, my courage, all of that makes me me, to lead do things at the highest level of service that I can.
SUN: Well, Keir, thanks so much for your time, and good luck to you on April 23.
KBG: Thank you.
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