Republican Attorneys General Association celebrates Robertson’s win
Robertson received a rare campaign endorsement from RAGA last year, and has close professional and financial ties to the organization.
The Republican Attorneys General Association on Wednesday congratulated Katherine Robertson for securing the Republican nomination for Alabama attorney general.
Robertson, who beat former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell during Tuesday’s runoff for the Republican attorney general nomination, received a rare endorsement from RAGA for her AG campaign.
During its 27-year history, RAGA has formally endorsed only 11 candidates, a fact the organization highlighted in its statement congratulating the nominee on her runoff victory.
Robertson took home roughly 55 percent of the Republican electorate’s support during the runoff and now has an opportunity to be elected Alabama’s first female state attorney general in November’s general election.
The newly selected Republican nominee has served as chief counsel to current Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall since 2017. Marshall served as RAGA chair from 2022 to 2023.
“Katherine Robertson is day one ready to provide Alabama with a new generation of conservative legal leadership,” said RAGA Executive Director Adam Piper.
Piper went on to describe Robertson as continuing the legal legacy of Marshall, and previous state attorneys general with close ties to his organization.
“Over the past decade, Katherine and I have been in countless policy and political foxholes and she will undoubtedly continue in a long line of tremendous Alabama Attorneys General from Bill Pryor to Luther Strange to Steve Marshall, all of whom served in RAGA leadership during their times as AG,” Piper said.
In its initial endorsement of Robertson, the association described Marshall as “one of RAGA’s most influential Chairmen,” and highlighted Pryor’s status as a “founding father” of the organization.
“Robertson is uniquely qualified to follow Steve Marshall’s legacy of leadership without hesitation on day one,” the organization wrote. “This extremely rare endorsement is the result of the trust Republican attorneys general have in Robertson and a testament to her character, integrity, and consistent, fearless, conservative leadership.”
Despite RAGA making no direct contributions to her campaign, Robertson has received substantial donations from RAGA-associated organizations.
Contributions include an initial $1 million investment from First Principles Action Inc., a nonprofit linked to former RAGA head Peter Bisbee, and more than $1 million from Frontline Leaders Action Inc., a federal super PAC which supports Republican attorneys general. The candidate has also received substantial donations from the Rule of Law Action Fund, a nonprofit with alleged ties to RAGA.
In its congratulations to the candidate, RAGA highlighted numerous right-wing legal policies pushed by Robertson during her time as Marshall’s chief counsel.
Among other conservative legal priorities, the organization cited conservative stances taken by Robertson including: “Fighting Biden vaccine mandates and asserting state sovereignty over health and safety, committing to staff police departments and ensuring law enforcement has the resources they need and building a coalition of conservative female legal leaders in support of AG Pam Bondi’s confirmation.”
The organization additionally commended Robertson for “crafting the national framework to implement and refocus the death penalty,” including the use of nitrogen hypoxia executions.
Throughout his tenure as attorney general, Marshall has pursued application of capital punishment, defended the state’s use of nitrogen hypoxia executions and strongly condemned instances where federal courts and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey have blocked the state’s attempts to use the death penalty on legal and ethical grounds.
Robertson has similarly defended the state’s use of nitrogen executions throughout her campaign and vowed to continue Marshall’s defense of capital punishment, an approach which RAGA argued serves “as a model for other states.”
Robertson will face Democratic attorney general nominee and former state Representative Jeff McLaughlin in the state’s Nov. 3 general election.
