Dana Nessel

Dana Michelle Nessel (born April 19, 1969) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the 54th Attorney General of Michigan since her election in November 2018 and inauguration on January 1, 2019. A former assistant prosecutor in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office and civil rights litigator, Nessel became the first woman and first openly lesbian individual to hold the position, defeating Republican incumbent Bill Schuette in a campaign focused on consumer protection and fighting corruption. Her tenure has featured notable legal actions, including a successful argument as counsel in DeBoer v. Snyder challenging Michigan's same-sex marriage ban, which contributed to broader U.S. Supreme Court rulings on the issue, as well as multistate suits against opioid manufacturers and environmental violators. Nessel's office has pursued election-related enforcement, such as charging 16 Republicans in 2023 for alleged forgery in submitting alternate elector certificates following the 2020 presidential contest, an action defended as safeguarding electoral integrity but criticized by opponents as selective prosecution amid broader partisan disputes over voting procedures. She has also defended state election laws in court, including dismissals of challenges to voter rolls and overseas ballots, while initiating probes into unauthorized discharges and pharmaceutical pricing practices. Controversies have arisen over perceived inconsistencies in enforcement, including limited success in campaign finance prosecutions and decisions on protest-related charges, reflecting debates on the impartiality of her office's priorities in a politically divided state.

She was raised in West Bloomfield within a Jewish family, with her heritage rooted in Eastern European Jewish immigrants.

Family origins included one lineage from the Polish-Russian border region and the other from Latvia and Lithuania, reflecting patterns of Jewish migration from areas devastated by pogroms and genocide.

In February 2023, Jack Eugene Carpenter III, a Michigan resident, was arrested after authorities discovered him heavily armed and in possession of a hit list targeting Jewish state officials, including Nessel, whom he identified due to her Jewish heritage; Carpenter had tweeted threats against "anyone that is Jewish in the Michigan govt" and admitted to investigators his intent to attack specific officials. The incident was described by Nessel's office as part of broader threats from racially motivated extremists, aligning with reports from organizations tracking antisemitic violence.