Associated Press

Gov. Mike Dunleavy has appointed Treg Taylor attorney general, replacing Ed Sniffen, whom Dunleavy named to the post less than two weeks earlier.

A release from Dunleavy’s office Friday said Sniffen, who had been acting attorney general for months, “removed himself for consideration” and “will be leaving state service.” Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner said the governor accepted Sniffen’s resignation “for personal reasons.”

Sniffen had a longstanding career with the Department of Law, which the attorney general leads. The attorney general appointment is subject to legislative confirmation. He did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Some legislators had said they wanted to hear from Sniffen on issues such as why the state sought to join with those supporting Texas in its effort to set aside the 62 electoral votes for now-President Joe Biden in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Sniffen told The Associated Press last week it was “entirely appropriate” to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to “just take a look at it, to see if this election was fair. … We supported a brief that asked the court to just take a look at those issues. The court ultimately decided not to take a look at them.”

Sniffen also said the election is over, Biden won and it’s time to “move on.”

Taylor has been a deputy attorney general in charge of the civil division for the Department of Law. Taylor, in the release, said he hopes under his leadership the department “will continue to provide outstanding legal service to the State, for the good of all Alaskans.”