On Thursday night, New York City public advocate Letitia “Tish” James won the Democratic primary to become the state’s attorney general in a packed and competitive field. With her victory, James edges closer to being the first black woman elected to a statewide office, should she win the seat in the November.

Light rain fell on Sunday as Letitia James and her two campaign aides hurried into St. Paul’s Community Church in East New York in Brooklyn. It’s the type of day pastors fear will keep their flocks from filling the pews. That morning, projections that Hurricane Florence would hit the East Coast before Thursday’s New…