The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) elected Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost as president for the year 2023.
The association voted unanimously to elect Yost during the NAAG Capital Forum in Washington.
“The trust of my colleagues is both gratifying and sobering. This is a difficult time for our country and no less for our institutions. I pledge to lead with humility and courage,” Yost said.
According to Yost, NAAG serves an important purpose.
“It is to give those of us who uphold the rule of law in each of our states and territories the opportunity to learn from each other. It is to allow us to join our resources to better serve the voters we answer to. It is to help each of us do a better job of ensuring that all the people of the states and territories we serve are afforded equal justice on a level playing field,” Yost said.
Yost became Ohio’s 51st attorney general in 2019. He earned his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and his law degree from Capital University. After working as a Columbus Citizen Journal reporter, he began his public service career as Delaware County’s auditor and prosecutor. According to Yost, as a prosecutor, he won the first-ever capital case in Delaware County and took down the largest drug ring in the county’s history.
He became Ohio’s 32nd auditor of state in 2011 and served two terms. The Ohio Attorney General’s website says he helped convict 170 corrupt public officials and uncovered $30 million in stolen and misspent public funds.
Yost previously served as chair of NAAG’s Midwestern Region until Ohio voters re-elected him as attorney general in the general election in November of this year.
His colleagues in the region, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin, nominated him for the national role.
Since the association was established in 1907, Yost is the second Ohio attorney general to be selected as NAAG president and the first in just shy of 70 years. Ohio Attorney General C. William O’Neill held the title from 1954-55.
As part of his leadership responsibilities for the NAAG, Yost will choose a presidential initiative and organize a presidential summit on the chosen issue in Columbus in 2023.
Yost announced that his presidential initiative would focus on the military and veterans.
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Hannah Poling is a lead reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Hannah on Twitter @HannahPoling1. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Dave Yost” by Dave Yost and “NAAG Members” is by the National Association of Attorneys General.
