Former prosecutor Nicholas J. Ganjei was sworn in as the newest U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of Texas on Wednesday, filling the open seat previously held by former President Joe Biden appointee Alamdar Hamdani.
Ganjei will oversee 43 counties and a justice system for nine million people that spans more than 44,000 square miles, according to the district’s website. The district encompasses courts in Houston, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, McAllen and Laredo, but is headquartered in Houston, where the new U.S. Attorney resides.
Ganjei accepted the new job after leaving his role as chief counsel for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), a position he’s held since 2023. He was also counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Constitution. Previously, from 2020 to 2021, he was Acting U.S. Attorney and First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, according to a release by the Justice Department on Wednesday.
He replaced Jennifer Lowery, who had been acting U.S. attorney since Hamdani, the first Asian American to hold the job, stepped down from his post on Jan. 19, 2025.
“This opportunity to once again serve the American people is both a tremendous responsibility and a great privilege,” said Ganjei in a written statement to the press on Wednesday. “This office will play a critical role in ensuring our border is secure and the American people are kept safe.”
Wednesday’s appointment was announced by the U.S. Department of Justice just nine days after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who was expected to name a new head of the office. Hamdani said the turnover of federal prosecutors is typical when the White House changes hands to a new political party.
“We serve at the pleasure of the president,” Hamdani told the Houston Landing in an interview early this month.
So far, Ganjei has not explicitly stated how his priorities in office will differ from those of his predecessor. Before his resignation on Jan. 19, Hamdani had touted his efforts to combat violent crime and gang activity, claiming a part in the 20% drop in Houston’s murder rate in the year following his appointment.
A graduate of University of California Berkeley School of Law, Ganjei began his career with the Department of Justice in 2008. There, he worked along the U.S.-Mexico border as an Assistant U.S. Attorney on a number of matters, including organized crime, immigration, narcotics and human trafficking, according to Wednesday’s release.
In recent months, Ganjei was slated to deliver a number of lectures at the conservative Federalist Society on judicial nominations and the Supreme Court. He was also named a James Madison fellow at conservative Christian Hillsdale College during the 2022-23 academic year, where according to the program description participants “discuss and study topics such as American foreign policy, free speech, identity politics, immigration, marriage and the family, political economy, and the rule of law.”
“I look forward to working alongside some great prosecutors, staff and law enforcement partners,” said Ganjei in a statement on Wednesday.
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