The fraternity of state Attorneys General will be getting two new members in 2020. In November 2019, Kentucky elected Daniel Cameron as its next Attorney General, and Lynn Fitch was elected as Attorney General of Mississippi. Both will be sworn into office in January. The elections are both pick-ups for the Republican Party, as Cameron and Fitch both won open-seats previously held by Democrats. Attorney General Andy Beshear was elected Governor of Kentucky, and Attorney General Jim Hood lost his bid to become Governor of Mississippi.

Seen as a rising-star in the Republican Party, Cameron is a 33 year-old first time candidate for public office. Cameron previously served as legal counsel to Senator Mitch McConnell. Most recently, he worked in private practice at Frost Brown Todd in Louisville. Throughout the campaign, Cameron emphasized his ties to law-enforcement and prioritized tackling opiate abuse. Cameron also staked-out conservative positions on immigration and abortion rights. Cameron will be the first African-American Attorney General of Kentucky, and the first Republican elected to that office since 1948.

Fitch has served as the Treasurer of Mississippi since 2012. Fitch's career spans a long resume of public positions, including serving as Executive Director of the Mississippi State Personnel Board, and as Counsel for the Mississippi House of Representatives Ways and Means and Local and Private Legislation Committees. Like Cameron, Fitch's campaign focused on her strong ties to law enforcement, her opposition to illegal immigration, and combating the opioid epidemic. Fitch will be the first female Attorney General of Mississippi. She will be only the second Republican to serve as Attorney General of Mississippi and the first since 1878.

Over the next several months, we will be monitoring any shifts in enforcement priorities resulting from the elections in Kentucky and Mississippi. Cameron and Fitch will likely align with the bipartisan trend of Attorneys General nationwide in favor of using aggressive enforcement actions to reduce opiates abuse. Cameron and Fitch's elections also increase the likelihood that Kentucky and Mississippi participate in multi-state litigations led by conservative coalitions of Attorneys General.

In addition to the Attorney General elections in Kentucky and Mississippi, Louisiana re-elected Attorney General Jeff Landry to his second term.

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