James turns to D.C. for new comms director

State Attorney General Letitia James has turned to Washington, D.C. for her new communications director, with her office hiring Geoff Burgan to take up the position.

Burgan comes to New York by way of the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he served as the communications director for CHIPS for America. The program was created by the bipartisan CHIPS and Sciences Act that invests in semiconductor manufacturing infrastructure and has had a significant impact on Central New York, thanks to a deal with Micron meant to bring manufacturing jobs to the region.

This won’t be the first time that Burgan and James have worked together. Before his stint in federal government, he spent over two years as the communications director for the Democratic Attorneys General Association, of which James is a member. She has often taken a leading role in joint actions taken by attorneys general across the country – something she has done with even greater frequency in the past two months, as Democrats try to combat actions taken by President Donald Trump. James’ already had a national profile, particularly after taking on the first Trump administration, and her hiring of a D.C. comms director indicates that it is likely to continue to grow. 

Burgan has hopped around the country since graduating from college in Maryland in 2011. He worked for Andrew Gillum’s unsuccessful campaign for Florida governor against Ron DeSantis in 2018. The following year, he headed to Iowa to serve as the spokesperson for Beto O’Rouke’s presidential campaign in the state, another ultimately unsuccessful endeavor. But Burgan found a winning candidate in 2020 when he worked for the Joe Biden campaign in Arizona. He is now in New York for the first time.

Burgan replaces James’ former longtime communications director Delaney Kempner, who recently left the office after New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch tapped her to become deputy commissioner for public information at the New York City Police Department.