Two of our major constitutional statewide offices are up for election in next year’s May 2026 GOP Primary. The Attorney General and Agriculture posts are incumbent-free and totally up for grabs. Current Attorney General Steve Marshall has served his constitutionally limited two terms and is running for the U.S. Senate. Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate has term-limited and is running for Lt. Governor.

Jay Mitchell is the clear favorite in the Attorney General’s race as the contest begins. Mitchell has been elected twice to the State Supreme Court with impressive vote totals. He has been a proven conservative pro-business voice on the state’s highest court. Therefore, he will be the candidate of choice of the state’s business community. He has already received the endorsement of the Business Council of Alabama. He has a large early lead in fundraising. He was able to transfer over $600,000 from his State Court campaign fund. He is approaching $2 million in the bank as the summer comes to an end.

Mitchell is 6’8’’ tall and played basketball at Birmingham Southern and was SGA President. He practiced law in Birmingham before being elected to the Supreme Court in 2018. Jay is a longtime resident of Homewood and should benefit from a strong hometown Jefferson/Shelby County vote. He also has family roots in the Wiregrass.

Blount County District Attorney, Pamela Casey, first announced for Attorney General back in January. She has crisscrossed the state extensively for the last eight months. She certainly has the experience. Casey has been District Attorney of Blount County for 15 years. She has been a working D.A. Being a practicing D.A. is the right experience to be Attorney General. She has actually prosecuted criminals. She is therefore, probably the most qualified person in the race.

All of Jay Mitchell’s and Pamela Casey’s campaign contributions have come from Alabama individuals and business. This is definitely not the case for the third candidate in the race for Attorney General.

Assistant Attorney General Katherine Green Robertson has garnered early attention by receiving $1.1 million from a newly formed out-of-state dark money entity. This clandestine dark money organization appears to be controlled by a right-wing billionaire named Leonard Leo. The money funneled to Robertson only has a Nashville, Tennessee post office box as their front. Leonard Leo and Donald Trump are arch enemies. It is doubtful Ms. Robertson will get President Trump’s endorsement in this race. This out-of-state dark money amounts to over 75% of her total campaign revenue. It appears this right-wing fringe benefactor is attempting to buy the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.

If Pamela Casey or Katherine Robertson were to upset Mitchell, they would be the first female Attorney General of Alabama.

The State Commissioner of Agriculture race is emerging as one of, if not the best and closest, races in next year’s election. It looks like it will be a contest between three well-qualified candidates for this important constitutional office. State Senator Jack Williams of Mobile, Agri-Businesswoman Christina Woerner McInnis, and Marshall County farmer Corey Hill are the players.

State Senator Jack Williams is a fifth-generation farmer from Mobile. He has also represented Mobile County in the State Legislature for the last 12 years. If you put his resume of long years of farming and government into a merit system job description, and the job was chosen by the merit system, he would be selected. Jack and his wife, Bobbie, have been campaigning, crisscrossing the state non-stop for over two years.

Baldwin County native Christina Woerner McInnis is a fifth-generation farmer. Her Woerner family is a renowned Baldwin County farm family, which has contributed to Alabama agriculture for over a century. Her family heritage is acknowledged by Baldwin County folks. Their roots go back to when the county was primarily a potato farming county. Her ancestors were German and potato farmers. She is an integral part of their current sod farming operation, which is the largest in the state.

Corey Hill is a farmer from Marshall County. He is a lifelong resident of this pristine, prominent Northeast Alabama County. He is Mayor of the small town of Douglas in Marshall County. He is a fourth-generation farmer and he and his wife, Stephanie, own a local grocery store which his parents started in the 1970’s.If he can get his name and message out, that he is the only candidate from vote rich North Alabama, under the “friends and neighbors” politics philosophy, he might surprise folks in this race. His two opponents both hail from the extreme southern end of the state in Baldwin and Mobile Counties.

See you next week.