The 2026 Alabama Attorney General’s race just got its first real bloody nose on the airwaves.
Katherine Robertson, chief counsel for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, and candidate for that office in 2026, dropped a statewide TV ad Tuesday branding opponent Jay Mitchell a “weak fraud” and a “lobbyist for a Muslim country.”
Several hours later, his campaign answered with 20-year-old news clippings and documentation that complicate the ad’s central claim.
Robertson’s 30-second spot, airing on broadcast and digital across the state, contrasts the former Alabama Supreme Court Justice’s recent tough-on-Islam campaign messaging with what the ad describes as his past.
“In recent weeks, we have watched Jay Mitchell try to convince Alabama Republicans that he has suddenly become some kind of MAGA warrior with ads ranging from humorous to patently absurd,” Robertson campaign manager Annabel Martinson said in a statement releasing the ad.
“Imagine our surprise when we learned that Mitchell was once a registered foreign agent for Uzbekistan and personally lobbied Hillary Clinton’s office. While Katherine Robertson has spent her entire career as a leader in the conservative legal movement, Mitchell has exposed himself as nothing more than an ambitious corporate shill.”
WATCH:
The Robertson campaign pointed to U.S. Department of Justice records under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the federal disclosure statute that requires individuals doing political or advocacy work in the U.S. on behalf of foreign principals to register and report their activity.
According to Robertson’s campaign, Mitchell registered in 2007 and his work included contact with the office of then-U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. The campaign characterizes the registration as Mitchell representing the “Muslim regime” of Uzbekistan, then led by authoritarian President Islam Karimov.
By Tuesday afternoon, Mitchell’s campaign was arguing a fundamentally different story.
In a release issued Tuesday, Mitchell said his FARA registration was on behalf of the Sunshine Coalition of Uzbekistan, a secular pro-democracy opposition group whose leader, businessman Sanjar Umarov, had been jailed by the Karimov government, and that he handled the matter pro bono while a lawyer at Birmingham firm Maynard, Cooper & Gale — now, Maynard Nexsen.
“I took on a barbaric Muslim tyrant to protect an innocent political prisoner and won,” Mitchell said in the statement, referring to Karimov. “I did it by bringing all of Congress together to stand unanimously for basic human rights, and I did it for free. It was one of the most meaningful experiences of my career.”
Mitchell accused Robertson of misleading voters: “This latest smear attempt is indefensible — conduct unbecoming of someone seeking the office of Attorney General.”
The documentation Mitchell’s campaign attached to its release lines up with how the matter was reported at the time.
A November 2005 Birmingham News article by Washington correspondent Mary Orndorff reported that lawyers at Maynard Cooper, including Mitchell, were pressing the Bush White House and Congress to intervene on Umarov’s behalf after his October 2005 arrest in Tashkent on what his family said were politically motivated financial charges.
The article quotes Mitchell directly criticizing Karimov: “If Karimov is going to shut up his critics by throwing them in jail, that’s wrong.”
A December 2005 Memphis Commercial Appeal article reported that the U.S. House had passed a resolution by voice vote calling for humane treatment of Umarov, whose family was living in Germantown, Tennessee.
The article noted it was believed to be the first time in roughly two decades that both chambers of Congress had appealed for the humanitarian treatment of a single individual, the prior instance being Nelson Mandela.
Mitchell’s campaign said his registered-agent status for the Sunshine Coalition was terminated in 2007.
RELATED: Who has law enforcement behind them in the 2026 Alabama Attorney General’s race?
The full ad script, as released by the campaign, reads:
“Jay Mitchell says he’s ‘Trump tough’ — who’s he kidding?
Mitchell was a partner at a woke law firm that promoted DEI. That’s not all. He was a registered foreign agent for Uzbekistan.
Woke lawyer … lobbyist for a Muslim country … that’s not Trump tough, that’s a weak fraud. Jay Mitchell — wrong for attorney general.
Alabama needs a real conservative. Katherine Robertson, endorsed by law enforcement, standing with President Trump from day one.”
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
