In a two-minute video, Craven vowed to “stand up for Rhode Island, to take on Trump, and to protect our way of life before it’s too late.”
Craven, 69, has represented House District 32 since being elected in November 2012. As House Judiciary Committee chairman, he said he has pushed for legislation protecting abortion rights, strengthening gun laws, and protecting the environment.
Craven is an attorney at Robert E. Craven & Associates in North Kingstown. He was an assistant attorney general from 1983 to 1992, included a stint as chief of the public corruption unit. He has appeared before the US Supreme Court, and was named to the state commission to reform the criminal justice system.
Craven also has worked as assistant solicitor and probate judge in Charlestown, solicitor for the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School District, and legal counsel to the state Board of Elections. He graduated from the University of Rhode Island and New England School of Law.
“As the Trump administration escalates its attacks on Rhode Island — gutting health care, slashing school funding, ending clean energy programs, killing jobs, seizing people on our streets, defying the law — we need an attorney general who is tested, with the guts to fight and the experience to win,” Craven said in a statement.
Hoffmann is set to announce his candidacy for attorney general on Tuesday at the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge, in Providence.
Hoffmann, 38, of Providence, was chief of policy and senior counsel for Neronha’s office. He previously worked as chief of the attorney general’s civil rights unit, focusing on enforcement actions to protect lead poisoned children, and a statewide hate crime enforcement program.
Hoffman said he helped to establish the attorney general’s public protection bureau, and to prepare the office to respond to the second Trump administration. The office has filed more than a dozen lawsuits, including a major suit over a freeze in federal funding.
He previously led a team of civil legal aid attorneys at the New York Legal Assistance Group, and was an Equal Justice Works Fellow, establishing medical-legal partnerships to help veterans with legal issues. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Fordham Law School.
“The state is facing a number of significant crises — the health care crisis, the direct threat from the (Trump) administration to our budget and our rights and institutions, and areas where the federal government is pulling back, including environmental protection, labor protection, consumer protection,” Hoffmann said in an interview. “We need to step forward, and I believe I have the energy, experience, and knowledge to do that on day one.”
Hoffman filed to run for elected office for the first time in August, and has not reported any campaign fundraising yet.
Knight, a Barrington Democrat, has a campaign announcement set for Oct. 6 at The Guild, in Warren.
Knight, 55, has represented House District 67, covering Warren and Barrington, since being elected in November 2016. He was the House sponsor of the 2025 law banning the sale, purchase, and manufacture of assault-style weapons, but not their possession. He also sponsored a 2021 law to ban “straw purchases” of firearms.
Knight, who is second vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee, founded his own law office in 2010, specializing in criminal defense. From 2006 to 2010, he was a prosecutor in the attorney general’s office. He served in the US Navy from 1988 to 1996 as an enlisted nuclear power operator. He graduated from Emerson College and Suffolk University Law School.
In an interview, Knight said he is “uniquely qualified” for the attorney general’s office, citing three areas of experience.
“I have record of service, having joined the Navy as a submarine sailor with two enlistments,” he said. “I was a line prosecutor with the attorney general’s, and I protect people’s rights as a defense attorney. And as a state legislator, I have tackled the hard stuff and been successful with legislation such as the assault weapons ban.”
Also, he said, “I have a record of independence and integrity. I don’t march in lockstep with leadership. I am here for my constituents.
Knight has $90,419 in his campaign account.
Other potential Democratic candidates include former state Senate Judiciary Committee Chairwoman Dawn Euer, a Newport Democrat; former US Attorney for Rhode Island Zachary Cunha; and Rhode Island Cannabis Control Commission chairwoman Kim Ahern. Potential Republican candidates include Charles “Chas” Calenda, a trial attorney at the Inman & Tourgee law firm in Coventry who lost to Neronha in the 2022 election.
The primary election is set for Sept. 8, 2026, and the general election is Nov. 3, 2026.
Under Neronha, the state attorney general’s office has filed and joined more than a dozen lawsuits against the Trump administration, challenging decisions on issues such as birthright citizenship, a freeze in federal funding, and halting the Revolution Wind project. Neronha said his office has recovered nearly $650 million that would’ve been lost had legal action was not taken.