The funeral for Bridgette Gentry Marshall, the 45-year-old wife of Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, will be held this morning in Boaz, Ala.
She died by suicide on Sunday after what her husband has described as a lengthy battle with chronic pain, mental illness and opioid addiction.
Steve Marshall is locked in a tight Republican runoff. He was the frontrunner in the June 5 primary, but finished with fewer than 3,000 votes ahead of former attorney general Troy King.
Marshall’s campaign adviser is Heath Garrett, a close confidant of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. In a text last night, Garrett said he wasn’t sure how the Marshall campaign would proceed in coming days. The runoff is July 17.
The winner will face Democrat Joseph Siegelman in November. Seigelman is the son of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was convicted in 2006 of accepting a bribe -- $500,000 in campaign funds to back a state lottery -- in exchange for a seat on a state hospital regulatory board. Governor Seigelman completed his sentence last year.
Marshall was appointed attorney general last year by then-Gov. Robert Bentley, to fill the vacancy created by Luther Strange appointment to the U.S. Senate. Strange lost a special election primary last year to former state Supreme Court justice Roy Moore, who in turn lost to Democrat Doug Jones.
Steve Marshall acknowledged his wife's mental health struggles, which had included involuntary hospitalization. She had moved to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to stay with a friend. But in a heart-rending press conference on Wednesday, Marshall said Alabama's harsh political climate was a contributing factor:
"She also was worried for me. Because she had seen the negative articles that were false and malicious, that were written by some that were on blogs and claimed to be journalists.
"And she saw what they were doing, in making up facts, and she was scared that someone was going to write the fact that she was committed and that she had a problem.
"And that those facts were going to be revealed to the world. And she didn't want that. And so her answer was to leave the state."
Marshall said his wife last visited him and their 20-year-old daughter on the day of the primary, one day before her birthday. Her condition took a turn for the worse in the weeks that followed.
On Sunday morning, she told her parents of her intent to end her life, prompting a call from her husband – whose pleas failed. “She said, ‘Do you want to hear it?’ I said ‘No, don’t.’ And then she hung up the phone,” Marshall said.
Bridgette Marshall died by a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.
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Here's a news report that caught our eye: President Trump is eyeing longtime Georgia GOP operative Nick Ayers, currently Vice President Mike Pence's top aide, as his next chief of staff.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Ayers, a former aide to Sonny Perdue, is one of two front-runners to replace John Kelly, who is expected to leave his gig as soon as this summer. The other is budget director Mick Mulvaney.
The Journal had this to say about Ayers’ Washington tenure so far:
A longtime adviser to Mr. Pence, Mr. Ayers has at times clashed with senior advisers in the West Wing, who have accused him of trying to undercut the president, according to people familiar with the matter. Asked about the potential discord Mr. Ayers's appointment could bring to the West Wing, one person close to the White House replied: "Whose problem is that?"
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Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle's Republican campaign for governor is getting some timely backup. Changing Georgia's Future, a pro-Cagle outside group, has upped its ad buy to more than $1.5 million total in the runoff phase. That includes heavy rotations of TV airtime in metro Atlanta during the final two weeks of the race.
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This is something of a coup: The Police Benevolent Association of Georgia backed Charlie Bailey, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, in the November contest. The decision to snub Republican Chris Carr, who was tapped to the position in 2016, is not the norm. The law enforcement organization is supporting two Republicans -- Casey Cagle and David Shafer -- in their bids for higher office. And it typically supports incumbents in AG races. Bailey, a former prosecutor, has also nabbed the support of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.
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You might recall that on Monday, Jamie Ensley, the president of Georgia Log Cabin Republicans, told us that the fight for gay rights is over – and has been won. Which not everyone would agree with. Over at Project Q, Patrick Saunders has gotten Ensley to elaborate:
"Mission accomplished on the war for LGBTQ equality in America with only a few battles remaining for full equality," Ensley said. "The keystones of our movement have been laid, with employment and housing equality being one of the few major battles left.
"In 2018, a majority of major Fortune 500 corporations and mid-sized companies have sexual orientation and gender identity employment policies in place. A majority of LGBTQ Americans can live their lives normally in America mostly without discrimination."
Ensley added that LGBTQ people in the U.S. should focus on helping LGBTQ people internationally and not on "who will bake a gay wedding cake."
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Helen Robinson, YWCA director of advocacy and director of the organization's Georgia Women's Policy Institute, has totaled up some interesting figures. Ninety-one of the 236 contests in the state House and Senate are competitive, she figures. And 61 have at least one woman candidate in the contest.
That figure could shrink slightly after the July 24 runoffs, but the general trend will still stand: Two-thirds of all competitive state legislative races will feature a female candidate. (Hat tip to Beth Shapiro for passing the info along.)
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U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, is making sweet, sweet music with Brooklyn Democrat Hakeem Jeffries … or something like that. The bipartisan duo, who have been on a bit of a victory lap after their songwriters bill passed the House, released a joint "Summertime Heat" playlist yesterday.
It's got some songs you wouldn't expect from a former military chaplain, including from Ice Cube, Ne-Yo and the electro dance music DJ Zedd. Collins claimed the credit for that last one in an interview with Billboard.
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The North Carolina Republican party has cut its ties with state legislative candidate Russell Walker, who has been linked to a website that says God is a white supremacist, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
