Before Katherine Robertson became the first woman elected Alabama attorney general, she was a political science student at Auburn University and a law student at the University of Alabama. Both sides of the Iron Bowl rivalry now count the state’s next chief law enforcement officer among their graduates.

Robertson defeated Democrat Jeff McLaughlin in last week’s election and will succeed Attorney General Steve Marshall in January. Last week’s results put the Republican at 919,903 votes, or 54.9%, to McLaughlin’s 753,384 votes, or about 45%.

No Republican in a contested statewide race drew more votes.

Robertson’s total topped State Auditor Andrew Sorrell, U.S. Senator-elect Barry Moore and Governor-elect Tommy Tuberville, who received 872,561 votes in his win over Doug Jones.

Her election gives the two universities a shared place in a state milestone. Auburn provided her undergraduate education in political science; Alabama provided her legal education. The career that followed took her to the Justice Department, the U.S. Senate and, eventually, the Alabama attorney general’s office.

But her interest in that work began before either campus.

Robertson grew up on her family’s farm in Dallas County, where her family’s roots stretch back eight generations. Her father, Kincey Green, is an attorney.

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In a 2019 interview with Yellowhammer News, she credited him with encouraging her to enter the legal profession and introducing her to public service while she was still in high school. He sponsored her delegation to Alabama Youth Legislature, an experience she said helped establish the direction of her career.

Her early work at the Justice Department involved relationships with state and local law enforcement. As legislative counsel to then-U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions on the Senate Judiciary Committee, she worked on issues involving crime, drugs and national security. She later served as vice president of the Alabama Policy Institute.

Marshall named Robertson chief counsel in March 2017. The appointment included advising the attorney general on policy and serving as his liaison in the Alabama Legislature and Washington. Nearly a decade later, she is preparing to lead the office herself.

That progression gives her Auburn and Alabama credentials a significance beyond the familiar football divide: Both institutions helped prepare a Dallas County student for a career representing her home state.

Years before she sought statewide office, Robertson described the appeal of that work.

“There’s something special about working more directly for the people of Alabama and seeing the tangible results of your work,” she said in 2019.

In January, the Auburn graduate and Alabama-trained lawyer will take on that responsibility as attorney general.