Fitch has worked as a bond lawyer, counsel for the Mississippi House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, a special assistant attorney general with the Mississippi Attorney General's office, and as deputy executive director at the Mississippi Department of Employment Security. In 2009, Fitch was appointed the executive director of the Mississippi State Personnel Board by Governor Haley Barbour.[3]
Fitch announced her candidacy for Attorney General of Mississippi on March 14, 2018.[9] In the Republican primary for this office, she defeated State Representative Mark Baker from Brandon, and Andy Taggart, former Chief of Staff to Governor Kirk Fordice and former Madison County Supervisor.[10] Having defeated Democratic candidate Jennifer Riley Collins in the general election, Fitch is the first woman to serve as the state's Attorney General and the first Republican to serve in the office since 1878.[11][12] She was sworn into office on January 9, 2020.[13]
In 2021, state lawmakers found over 700,000 acres of Mississippi farmland was owned by foreign interests, in violation of state law, and Fitch failed to enforce the statute banning this practice.[14] Mississippi's Secretary of State has accused Fitch of failing to enforce Mississippi's campaign finance laws on numerous occasions.[15] Fitch's step-mother has also accused Fitch in court filings of using the Attorney General's Office to intimidate her while the step-mother's husband was ill.[16]
In 2021, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, she requested that the Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1970s landmark abortion case.[18] She called Roe v. Wade "egregiously wrong" and argued that the Court should allow a new Mississippi state law banning abortions after 15 weeks to come into effect.[19] Fitch has argued that a ban on abortion would empower women and that abortion prevents women from reaching their full potential.[1]Oral argument on behalf of Mississippi was delivered by Fitch's solicitor general, Scott Stewart.[20][21] Outside the Supreme Court, the attorney general's office hosted a rally entitled "Empower Women Promote Life."[22] In the months leading up to the oral arguments in the Dobbs case, Fitch authored a series of op-eds arguing against abortion. Her writing was published in the Wall Street Journal,[23]USA Today,[24]Dallas Morning News,[25]The Washington Post,[26] and (together with Monica Sparks, President of Democrats for Life of America) The Hill.[27] Under Fitch, the Mississippi AG's office contracted to pay a D.C. law firm, as well as a Birmingham, Alabama public relations firm and an Alexandria, Virginia-based public relations consultant, up to $558,000 to support her efforts to defend Mississippi laws restricting abortion access.[20]
In 2023, Fitch declined to defend Mississippi's long-standing vaccination requirements against lawsuits by anti-vaccine groups. Mississippi's vaccine requirements had resulted in one of the highest vaccination rates in the United States, with 99% of kindergarteners being immunized. It is rare for an Attorney General to decline to defend a state law.[28]
As Attorney General of Mississippi, Fitch has been accused of awarding contracts to campaign donors in what appears to be a "pay-to-play" arrangement.[29][30]
Fitch is affiliated[31] with the left-of-center[32] National Association of Attorneys General.
▌2 Unknown (2 territories) An asterisk (*) indicates that the officeholder is serving in an acting capacity. State abbreviations link to position articles.
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