Lynn Fitch (born October 5, 1961) is an American lawyer, politician, and the 40th Mississippi Attorney General. She is the first woman to serve in the role and the first Republican since 1878. Previously, she was the 54th State Treasurer of Mississippi from 2012 to 2020.
Lynn Fitch | |
|---|---|
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| 40th Attorney General of Mississippi | |
| Assumed office January 14, 2020 | |
| Governor | Tate Reeves |
| Preceded by | Jim Hood |
| 54th Treasurer of Mississippi | |
| In office January 5, 2012 – January 14, 2020 | |
| Governor | Phil Bryant |
| Preceded by | Tate Reeves |
| Succeeded by | David McRae |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 5, 1961 Holly Springs, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | University of Mississippi (BA, JD) |
| Signature |  |
As Attorney General of Mississippi, Fitch has been accused of awarding contracts to campaign donors in what appears to be a "pay-to-play" arrangement.[1][2]
Personal life and early career
editFitch is a native of Marshall County, Mississippi, and grew up in Holly Springs, Mississippi.[3][4] She attended University of Mississippi and in five years earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Juris Doctor.[4] She began practicing law at 23 on the staff of Attorney General Ed Pittman.[4]
Fitch has worked as a bond lawyer, counsel for the Mississippi House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, a special assistant attorney general with the Mississippi Attorney General's office, and as deputy executive director at the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. In 2009, Fitch was appointed the executive director of the Mississippi State Personnel Board by Governor Haley Barbour.[5]
Fitch is divorced[6] and lives in Madison, Mississippi.[4]
Political career
editState Treasurer of Mississippi
editA Republican, Fitch announced her campaign for State Treasurer of Mississippi in February 2011.[7][8] She defeated candidate Lucien Smith in the primary and state senator Lee Yancey in a runoff election for the Republican nomination on August 23, 2011.[8][9] She went on to defeat Democrat Connie Moran in the November 8, 2011 general election with 59 percent of the vote.[10]
Mississippi Attorney General
editFitch announced her candidacy for Attorney General of Mississippi on March 14, 2018.[11] In the Republican primary for this office, she defeated State Representative Mark Baker from Brandon, and Andy Taggart, former Chief of Staff to Governor Kirk Fordice and former Madison County Supervisor.[12] Having defeated Democratic candidate Jennifer Riley Collins in the general election, Fitch is the first woman to serve as the state's Attorney General and the first Republican to serve in the office since 1878.[13][14] She was sworn into office on January 9, 2020.[15]
In 2021, state lawmakers found over 700,000 acres of Mississippi farmland was owned by foreign interests, in violation of state law, and Fitch failed to enforce the statute banning this practice.[16] Mississippi's Secretary of State has accused Fitch of failing to enforce Mississippi's campaign finance laws on numerous occasions.[17] Fitch's step-mother has also accused Fitch in court filings of using the Attorney General's Office to intimidate her while the step-mother's husband was ill.[18]
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while he and his allies made claims of fraud, Fitch joined in the lawsuit seeking to overturn the 2020 election.[19]
In 2021, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, she requested that the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1970s landmark abortion case.[20] She called Roe v. Wade "egregiously wrong" and argued that the Court should allow a new Mississippi state law banning abortions after 15 weeks to come into effect.[21] Fitch has argued that a ban on abortion would empower women and that abortion prevents women from reaching their full potential.[3] Oral argument on behalf of Mississippi was delivered by Fitch's solicitor general, Scott Stewart.[22][23] Outside the Supreme Court, the attorney general's office hosted a rally entitled "Empower Women Promote Life."[24] In the months leading up to the oral arguments in the Dobbs case, Fitch authored a series of op-eds arguing against abortion. Her writing was published in the Wall Street Journal,[25] USA Today,[26] Dallas Morning News,[27] The Washington Post,[28] and (together with Monica Sparks, President of Democrats for Life of America) The Hill.[29] Under Fitch, the Mississippi AG's office contracted to pay a D.C. law firm, as well as a Birmingham, Alabama public relations firm and an Alexandria, Virginia-based public relations consultant, up to $558,000 to support her efforts to defend Mississippi laws restricting abortion access.[22]
In 2023, Fitch declined to defend Mississippi's long-standing vaccination requirements against lawsuits by anti-vaccine groups. Mississippi's vaccine requirements had resulted in one of the highest vaccination rates in the United States, with 99% of kindergarteners being immunized. It is rare for an Attorney General to decline to defend a state law.[30]
Fitch is affiliated[31] with the left-of-center[32] National Association of Attorneys General.
Electoral history
edit| Mississippi Treasurer Republican Primary Election, 2011 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Republican | Lynn Fitch | 104,287 | 37.65 |
| Republican | Lee Yancey | 92,653 | 33.45 |
| Republican | Lucien Smith | 80,054 | 28.90 |
| Mississippi Treasurer Republican Primary Runoff Election, 2011 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Republican | Lynn Fitch | 82,930 | 53.16 |
| Republican | Lee Yancey | 73,076 | 46.84 |
| Mississippi Treasurer Election, 2011 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Republican | Lynn Fitch | 513,132 | 58.79 |
| Democratic | Connie Moran | 333,267 | 38.18 |
| Reform | Shawn O'Hara | 26,421 | 3.03 |
| Mississippi Treasurer Republican Primary Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Republican | Lynn Fitch (inc.) | 154,492 | 57.67 |
| Republican | David McRae | 113,411 | 42.33 |
| Mississippi Treasurer Election, 2015 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| Republican | Lynn Fitch (inc.) | 511,465 | 79.24 |
| Reform | Viola McFarland | 134,014 | 20.76 |
References
edit- ^ Pender, Geoff (2024-06-05). "Does Mississippi have any campaign finance rules? Legislative inaction, AG's statements leave doubt". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ Pender, Geoff (2024-02-19). "Attorney General Lynn Fitch wants campaign finance reform and more enforcement — wait, what?". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ a b Kitchener, Caroline. "The woman who could bring down Roe v. Wade". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Mississippi Treasurer Lynn Fitch". Mississippi State Treasurer. January 5, 2012. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012.
- ^ "Attorney General Lynn Fitch". Mississippi Attorney General. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ "Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch Appears Before the U.S. Supreme Court and Urges Justices to Return Abortion Policymaking to the People (December 1, 2021) - Attorney General Lynn Fitch". attorneygenerallynnfitch.com. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ "Lynn Fitch launchers statewide campaign for state treasurer". Magnolia Tribune. February 15, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ a b Pettus, Emily Wagster (July 4, 2011). "Mississippi voters to choose new treasurer as Tate Reeves tries for lieutenant governor". gulflive. Associated Press. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ "DuPree, Fitch win runoffs; Several new faces in coast districts". WLOX. August 24, 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ "Official Tabulation of Vote for State Office of Treasurer" (PDF). Mississippi Secretary of State. Retrieved January 10, 2012.
- ^ Fowler, Sarah (May 15, 2018). "Lynn Fitch to run for attorney general". The Clarion Ledger. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
- ^ Pettus, Emily Wagster (August 28, 2019). "Fitch wins GOP nomination for Mississippi attorney general". AP News. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ Gates, Jimmie E. "Lynn Fitch elected Mississippi's first female attorney general". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved 2021-10-08.
- ^ "Lynn Fitch". Republican Attorneys General Association. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
- ^ Pettus, Emily Wagster (January 10, 2020). "7 of 8 statewide officials inaugurated". The Greenwood Commonwealth. Associated Press. pp. 1, 12.
- ^ Ulmer, Sarah (2023-11-29). "Mississippi study committee on foreign farmland ownership releases final report". Magnolia Tribune. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ Pender, Geoff (2024-01-03). "Secretary of State Michael Watson calls for campaign finance reform, less business regulation". Mississippi Today. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ LeMaster, C. J. (2021-09-03). "Court documents claim Lynn Fitch used her power as AG to intimidate". www.wlbt.com. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ Harrison, Bobby (December 11, 2020). "Several Mississippi Republicans seek to throw out millions of ballots". Mississippi Today. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
- ^ Liptak, Adam (2021-07-22). "Mississippi asks the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-22.
- ^ de Vogue, Ariane (July 22, 2021). "Mississippi asks US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade". CNN.
- ^ a b Geoff Pender and Bobby Harrison, Attorney General Lynn Fitch paying outside law, PR firms for fight against abortion, Mississippi Today (December 2, 2021).
- ^ Giulia Heyward, Scott Stewart, the lawyer representing Mississippi, was at the center of a 2017 abortion controversy., New York Times (December 1, 2021).
- ^ "Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization - Attorney General Lynn Fitch". www.ago.state.ms.us. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- ^ Fitch, Lynn (2021-06-14). "Opinion | Mississippi's People Should Choose Its Abortion Laws". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- ^ Fitch, Lynn. "Mississippi supports protecting life at 15 weeks. Give abortion debate back to the people". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- ^ "Pregnancy no longer halts a woman's career, and our thinking about abortion must catch up". Dallas News. 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
- ^ "Opinion | Mississippi attorney general: Overturning 'Roe' will return abortion policy to the people". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-04-06.
- ^ Lynn Fitch and Monica Sparks, opinion contributors (2021-09-18). "Caring for the whole life and the whole woman is hard, but right". The Hill. Retrieved 2022-04-05.
{{cite web}}:|first=has generic name (help) - ^ "How a well-timed legal assault unraveled Mississippi's stellar record in vaccinating kids". NBC News. 2023-12-16.
- ^ "NAAG Regions". National Association of Attorneys General. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ Miller, Andrew (2023-02-09). "AG threatens to sue nonprofit accused of going woke if taxpayer money isn't returned: 'Choice is yours'". Fox News. Retrieved 2024-11-17.