Joanna Lydgate is co-founder and chief executive officer of the States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to protecting free, fair, and secure elections. Since 2020, States United has provided legal, research, policy, and communications support to state officials who run elections. Before launching States United, Lydgate served as chief deputy attorney general of Massachusetts. In that role, she coordinated multi-state litigation and worked with a bipartisan team of colleagues from across the country to uphold shared values, protect civil liberties, and defend the rule of law. She also oversaw criminal enforcement, coordinating daily with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners. Lydgate has served as an assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, was a law clerk to Judge Norman H. Stahl on the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and worked in nonprofit legal services in New York City. She is a graduate of Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.