It has been over 40 years since the last incumbent attorney general was defeated for reelection.

That happed in 1990 when Scott Harshbarger beat first term Attorney General James Shannon in the Democratic primary, which was tantamount to election.

Shannon, a former Congressman, had succeeded the late Frank Bellotti in the powerful position when Bellotti left office after three successful terms.

Massachusetts has not had a Republican attorney general in more than 50 years, the last being Elliot Richardson who resigned in 1969 to join the Nixon cabinet.  The office has become a Democratic Party stronghold.

But an incumbent can be beaten.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell should take note because it could happen again if she continues to grandstand by suing President Donald Trump rather than deal with illegal immigrant crime and attacks on Teslas by left-wing hooligans.

At the rate she is going she will break Gov. Maura Healey’s record of suing Trump some 100 times in the four years of his first term when she was attorney general. Most of the suits went nowhere but they helped her become governor in 2022.

Maybe it will help Campbell, 43, if she challenges U.S. Sen. Ed Markey who will be 80 years old when he runs for reelection in 2026.

Campbell, a former Boston city council president and failed mayoral candidate who supported defunding the police, was elected attorney general with Healey’s support.

Campbell got into the race to succeed Healey after Shannon Liss-Riordan announced her candidacy. Then Quentin Palfrey, a former candidate for lieutenant governor, jumped in making it a three-way contest.

Palfrey took enough votes away from Liss-Riordan to ensure a Campbell Democratic primary victory and she later was elected over Republican Jay McMahon.

After the election, Healey appointed Palfrey to the newly created position of director of the office of Federal Funds and Infrastructure at $160,000 a year.

Now Campbell is following Healey’s game plan by using the attorney general’s office to “stand up” to Trump.

In the short time Trump has been president, Campbell has sued or joined in a half dozen or so lawsuits or signed on to legal objections over actions Trump has taken.

They range from suits over transgender rights, birthright citizenship, the elimination of the Department of Education, cuts in federal funding and objection to Trump’s plans to deport criminal illegal immigrants charged with horrendous crimes.

Campbell, the state’s so-called “chief law enforcement officer,” has said that state and local police officers cannot be “commandeered for federal immigration enforcement.”

This is in line with the position of both Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. The three progressives have emerged as the leaders of the state’s anti-Trump resistance.

Which is fine, except for what it will mean when Trump gets around to cutting federal funds for states that do not abide by his mandates like, for instance, deporting criminal illegal immigrants or banning men from women’s sports.

Meanwhile, the state’s “chief law enforcement officer” was nowhere to be found when Tom Homan and ICE came to town over the weekend and arrested 370 wanted “illegal aliens.” It happened under the noses of Campbell, Healey and Wu. Some were fugitives facing charges of murder, drug trafficking and organized crime.

Nor has Campbell anything to say when left wing thugs torched seven Tesla charging stations in Littleton, or about a man shot at while driving a Tesla in Lowell, or the keying of privately owned Teslas by hateful “resisters.”

Instead of Campbell, Healey and Wu doing their jobs, they — the Stomping Trump Trio — sound an incessant anti-Trump chorus.

Soon they will rework Healey’s line about rioters burning and looting cities in 2020 following the George Floyd killing. Back then she said, “Yes, America is burning. That’s how forests grow.” This time it will be, “Yes, Teslas are burning.  That’s how dealerships grow.”

Campbell’s 2026 opponent is warming up in the bullpen.

Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com