State Sen. Arthur Orr says there are two political contests in the 2026 primary elections that will soon heat up — and one of them will be “a knife fight.”
Orr (R-Decatur) said Friday on his weekly segment with WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” that the 2026 race for Alabama Attorney General “will be hot” and closely watched. He also warned that U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) shouldn’t be counted out in the U.S. Senate primary, even as Attorney General Steve Marshall holds a decisive, early advantage in polling.
After launching his bid this week, Moore told The Daily Caller, “I think I’m probably the only candidate in the race right now that hasn’t donated to Democrats recently or been a Democrat in many ways.”
Orr, asked whether Moore’s line would land, said he hadn’t run down the donation claims, but reflected this has come up in elections past.
“You know, I haven’t investigated or looked at it, but I would imagine if Barry Moore is saying it — it is probably true. I think Mr. Marshall ran as a Democrat back years ago, as district attorney, and then changed parties — and during that Democratic time, probably gave contributions. But I’m sure Moore has done his homework to before he starts making such accusations,” Orr said.
“I kind of doubt it’ll have a lot of impact, because Marshall has now served as a Republican, both at the local level and then at the statewide level as a Republican — so I just don’t see it having a whole lot of effect. There are a lot of other office elders… that have run as Democrats in the past, and, you know, are currently in office and in very powerful positions — but it hasn’t seemed to affect their political career. So, you know, I don’t see it getting a lot of mileage. But there may be other things that Moore will be pulling punches later. But on this one, yeah, put it out there, let people know. But I don’t think it gets very far.”
Orr said the race to replace Marshall, who is term-limited as Attorney General, “will be hot.”
The GOP field already includes well-defined contenders. Katherine Robertson, Marshall’s longtime chief counsel, launched her bid in June at a Birmingham kickoff where Marshall endorsed her. Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell resigned from the state’s top court in May and immediately entered the race shortly after.
“It will be hot, it will be heavy, and it will be, I think, a knife fight, almost. It’ll be pretty, pretty sharp and and a lot going on, and because of the outside money. It won’t be one of those, ‘Here, these associations in Montgomery line up on this side, and these associations in Montgomery lineup on the other side, and they duke it out,’ — because of the outside money,” Orr said.
Robertson’s filings show First Principles Action, a Nashville-based 501(c)(4), contributed $1 million to her campaign in late June and another $100,000 later on. Jay Mitchell’s campaign seized on that surge as “out-of-state dark money.”
Orr predicted the tenor of the campaign will turn sharply negative as money pours in.
“That’s where the negative — what I would think would be negative advertising to define your opponent — will come into play. And since they’ll have millions of dollars to throw at it again, a lot of money coming from out of state, you’ll see a lot of negative ads. And that’s the reason I think it’ll garner a good bit of attention next spring.”
He added that, beyond attack ads, the winner will be the candidate who convinces voters they can be a “reliable, responsible” AG.
“I think it’ll be more than negative ads, and who can sell themselves better, of course, to the public, as a reliable, responsible AG, and you’ve got two good candidates that will be able to do that, and that’s the reason I think we slide into the negative sphere,” Orr said.
The Alabama Republican Party primary election will be held 277 days from now, on May 19, 2026.
Grayson Everett is the editor and chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
