MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Pamela Casey, a former candidate in Alabama’s attorney general race, endorsed Jay Mitchell over Katherine Robertson ahead of the Republican runoff election. Casey earned 25% of the vote in last week’s Republican primary, finishing third in the field.
Robertson, chief counsel to current Attorney General Steve Marshall, led the group with 41% of the vote. Mitchell, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, earned his place in the runoff with 34%.
Casey, Blount County’s district attorney, said the decision to endorse Mitchell came because of his legal experience.
“This election is ultimately about who is best prepared to serve the people of Alabama moving forward,” Casey wrote in an open letter to voters. “At the end of the day, I believe Alabama deserves an Attorney General who has actual courtroom and legal experience. Jay Mitchell has been in the courtroom. He understands the law, the judicial system, and the serious responsibility that comes with serving as our state’s top law enforcement officer.”
She also said she is “deeply concerned about the role dark money and outside interests played in this race.”
Throughout the race, Robertson’s opponents have railed against her acceptance of contributions from out-of-state 501(c)4 organizations. Those groups don’t have to disclose their donors like Alabama PACs do, which has led Robertson’s opponents to deem the contributions “dark money.”
“There is only one candidate in this runoff, other than myself, who has been transparent about campaign funding, and that is Jay Mitchell,” Casey wrote. “Alabamians deserve transparency and accountability from those seeking public office, and Jay has provided that transparency.”
Though she endorsed him, Casey mentioned that she found two of Mitchell’s campaign ads “distasteful and unbecoming.” She said she discussed those ads with him and that he “assured (her) that his focus moving forward will be on (his) extensive legal and courtroom experience.”
The AG race has been one of the chippiest races on the ballot this year, full of attack ads and colorful rhetoric.
Mitchell and Robertson will face off to earn the Republican nomination in the runoff on June 16.
Democrat Jeff McLaughlin ran unopposed and will face the winner of the runoff in the general election on Nov. 3.