Lynn Fitch, the antiabortion Mississippi attorney general who led the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, won reelection Tuesday night and will serve another four-year term. She defeated Democratic opponent Greta Kemp Martin, who condemned the Dobbs ruling and criticized the incumbent’s strict antiabortion politics.
“Thank you, Mississippi, for entrusting me with another four years as your attorney general,” she said in a message to supporters on Twitter. “I am looking forward to all that we will accomplish together in this second term.”
Fitch’s accomplishments in her first term include her 2022 U.S. Supreme Court victory in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization; it allowed Mississippi and other Republican-led states to implement strict abortion bans with few vaguely defined exceptions. Earlier this year, she argued in a letter to the Biden administration that state investigators should have access to information about Mississippi residents who obtain abortions or gender-affirming care in other states.
Martin attacked Fitch over the Dobbs decision on its first anniversary.
“It’s no secret that there has been an all-out attack on women’s rights for quite some time,” she said in a June 23 statement. “But it was just a year ago when my opponent lit the fuse that completely obliterated a woman’s right to choose what happens to her own body.”
With 96% of the vote counted as of noon Wednesday, Fitch had won 58.8% of the vote compared to Martin’s 41.2%, the Associated Press reported. Gov. Tate Reeves also led Democratic candidate for governor Brandon Presley by a 51.6%-47% margin after declaring victory Tuesday night. Unlike Martin, Presley said he was “pro-life” and opposed abortion rights.
The last Democrat who held the attorney general’s office was Jim Hood, but he gave up the position to run for governor against Reeves unsuccessfully in 2019. His office defended Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in what would become the Dobbs case before handing it over to Fitch upon leaving office in January 2020.
In a tweet Tuesday night, Martin thanked supporters. “You are destined for better, brighter days,” she wrote.
The other six Republican incumbents defeated all Democratic challengers, ensuring total GOP domination over all eight statewide offices for the second election in a row.
Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann defeated Democrat D. Ryan Grover; Republican State Auditor Shad White defeated Democrat Larry Bradford; Republican Secretary of State Michael Watson defeated Democrat Ty Pinkins; Republican Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson defeated Democrat Robert Bradford; Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney defeated Democrat Bruce Burton; and Republican State Treasurer David McRae defeated Democrat Addie Lee Green.
Republicans will maintain control of the Mississippi House and Senate. The party has held both chambers since 2012.
