Ken Cuccinelli
Photo: United States Department of Homeland Security / Wikimedia Commons

Ken Cuccinelli

Ken Cuccinelli is an American lawyer and politician born on July 30, 1968, in Edison, New Jersey, who rose through the Virginia legislature to serve as the state’s Attorney General and later in a senior immigration role in the Trump administration. His career has spanned constitutional litigation, immigration enforcement, and human-trafficking policy. Among the many markers of his combative legal style, perhaps none is more cited than his filing of a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act just 34 minutes after President Obama signed it, making him the first state attorney general to mount such a challenge.

Key facts

  • Born: 30 July 1968
  • Birthplace: Edison
  • Country: United States
  • Occupation: lawyer; politician
  • Education: University of Virginia; Antonin Scalia Law School; Gonzaga College High School

Early Life and Education

Cuccinelli’s father, Kenneth Thomas Cuccinelli, is of Italian descent, while his mother, Maribeth (née Reilly), is of Irish ancestry. After the family moved from Edison, New Jersey, when Ken was a toddler, he grew up in McLean, Virginia, in the Northern Virginia suburbs near Washington, D.C. He graduated from Gonzaga College High School, a Jesuit school for boys in Washington, D.C., in 1986.

His academic path was unusually broad. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia, then a Juris Doctor from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, and a Master of Arts in International Commerce and Policy, also from George Mason University. The engineering degree preceded his legal and political career, a combination that set him apart from most of the constitutional litigators who rose to prominence alongside him.

Cuccinelli met Alice Monteiro Davis as a teenager in McLean, Virginia. The two married in October 1991 and have seven children together.

Legal Career and Virginia Legislature

In 2003, Cuccinelli co-founded the law firm Cuccinelli & Day, PLLC with Chris Day. When he was elected Attorney General of Virginia, the firm was renamed Day & Johns, PLLC.

During his time in public life, Cuccinelli served on several Virginia state commissions, including the Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Project, the Commission on the Prevention of Human Trafficking, and the Virginia Supreme Court Commission on Mental Health in the Justice System. In November 2008, the Family Foundation of Virginia named him its Legislator of the Year at its 2008 Annual Gala, recognizing his pro-family legislative record.

Virginia Attorney General

Cuccinelli ran for Attorney General of Virginia in 2009 with the endorsement of the National Rifle Association and won. As Attorney General, he pursued what his official biography describes as record enforcement against gangs, health care fraud, and child predators, and the office credited his tenure with moving Virginia from being among the worst states on human trafficking enforcement to one of the best.

In 2010, Cuccinelli filed the lawsuit Virginia v. Sebelius against the Affordable Care Act just 34 minutes after President Obama signed the bill into law, becoming the first attorney general to file such a challenge.

In April 2010, also in his capacity as Attorney General, Cuccinelli served a civil investigative demand on the University of Virginia seeking documents related to climate researcher Michael E. Mann’s work between 1999 and 2005. He invoked the Virginia Fraud Against Taxpayers Act of 2002 as his authority for the demand.

2013 Gubernatorial Race

Cuccinelli won the Republican nomination for Governor of Virginia at the state party convention on May 18, 2013. In the general election he faced Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe. Cuccinelli received 45.2 percent of the vote to McAuliffe’s 47.8 percent, a margin of 2.5 percentage points.

His campaign raised $18 million, while McAuliffe’s campaign raised $34 million, a nearly two-to-one fundraising gap. Political analysts cited that disparity as a significant factor in the outcome.

Federal Immigration Role

Cuccinelli joined the Trump administration in a senior immigration capacity. On August 12, 2019, he announced the administration’s new “public charge” inadmissibility rule, which made it more difficult for legal immigrants who use public benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid, or subsidized housing to obtain green cards.

The announcement drew attention in part because of his own family history. His great-grandfather, Dominic Cucciniello, was born in 1875 in southern Italy and arrived in the United States in 1896 with no schooling. Critics argued that the rule Cuccinelli was promoting in 2019 could have barred someone with that background from gaining permanent residency.

Post-Administration Work

As of spring 2025, Cuccinelli held the position of Pritzker Fellow at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, where he led a seminar series titled “The Trump Approach Explained.”

Did you know

  • Cuccinelli’s great-grandfather, Dominic Cucciniello, was born in 1875 in southern Italy and emigrated to the United States in 1896, making Cuccinelli the great-grandson of an Italian immigrant. That personal heritage drew attention when he championed a strict “public charge” immigration rule in 2019. (motherjones.com)
  • Cuccinelli earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering before becoming a lawyer and politician, an unusual academic background for someone who became one of the most prominent constitutional litigators among state attorneys general. (docs.house.gov)
  • When Cuccinelli filed the lawsuit Virginia v. Sebelius against the Affordable Care Act in 2010, he did so just 34 minutes after President Obama signed the bill into law, making him the first attorney general to file such a challenge. (americanprogressaction.org)
  • The law firm Cuccinelli co-founded with Chris Day in 2003 as Cuccinelli & Day, PLLC later renamed itself Day & Johns, PLLC when Cuccinelli was elected Attorney General of Virginia. (linkedin.com)
  • Despite Cuccinelli’s hardline immigration stance, analysis of his own family history revealed that his great-grandfather Dominic Cucciniello arrived in the United States from Italy in 1896 with no schooling — the type of person critics argued the “public charge” rule he promoted in 2019 might have excluded. (motherjones.com)
  • Cuccinelli’s 2013 gubernatorial campaign raised $18 million, compared to opponent Terry McAuliffe’s $34 million, a nearly 2-to-1 fundraising disadvantage that political analysts cited as a significant factor in his 2.5 percentage point defeat. (usnews.com)

Data sources

Data updated: 2026-10-30