MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Attorney General Steve Marshall defeated challenger Troy King to secure the Republican nomination Tuesday after a dramatic and bitter runoff campaign.
Marshall won 62 percent of the vote to King’s 38 percent, according to the Secretary of State’s office. He will now face Democratic nominee Joseph Siegelman in the general election.
The race took on an aggressive tone in the closing days after both Marshall and King temporarily paused their campaigns following the suicide of Marshall’s wife last month.
King, who previously served as Attorney General from 2004 to 2010, attempted to paint Marshall as a Democrat and repeatedly accused him of accepting improper campaign contributions from the Republican Attorneys General Association. King filed an ethic complaint, which went nowhere, and then sued in state court to stop the contributions, only to have a judge dismiss the case.
“Following this challenging primary, I am honored to have received the Republican nomination for Attorney General,” Marshall said upon his Tuesday victory.
“This has been a difficult time for our family and I will be eternally grateful for the support that the people of Alabama have shown us over the last few weeks. As I have said before, when tragedy strikes, Alabamians show their true character. I’m humbled to serve the people of this great state and look forward to continuing the fight to protect all of Alabama.”
The 53-year-old Marshall has been attorney general since February 2017, when then-Gov. Robert Bentley appointed him after naming Luther Strange to the U.S. Senate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.