Five things you need to know about Steve Marshall

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Steve Marshall
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall

Last week, Steve Marshall beat Troy King in the runoff election for the republican Attorney General’s seat.

Winning with just over 62 percent of the votes, Marshall now faces Democratic challenger Joseph Siegelman in the November general election.

With that in mind, here are five things you need to know about Steve Marshall:

1. Although he moved around a lot in childhood, Marshall has always considered Alabama his true home.

Although Marshall was born in Atmore, Ala. his father, Conrad Marshall, was a representative for a sporting goods manufacturer and moved the family across the southeast for most of Marshall’s childhood. They lived in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, where he graduated from high school.

After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with his bachelors degree, Marshall moved back to Alabama to attend the University of Alabama’s law school, and stayed.

“Despite leaving Alabama in first grade and living in several Southern states, Steve knew the Yellowhammer State was his home. He always knew he’d move back,” said the National Association of Attorney’s General (NAAG).

2. When sworn in as the Marshall County District Attorney (DA), Marshall became the second youngest DA in Alabama.

In 2001 Marshall was appointed as the District Attorney of Marshall County. At only 36 years old his swearing in made him the second youngest District Attorney in Alabama.

As District Attorney, Marshall founded several criminal prosecution and forensic programs and task forces including the Marshall County Major Crimes Unit, Marshall County Computer Forensics Lab and the Marshall County Crystal Meth Task Force. He was also instrumental in instituting and applying the Brody Act. The act holds anyone who kills or injures a mother’s unborn baby as accountable for two crimes, one against the mother and one against the baby. Marshall was one of the first DA’s to apply this law in his district.

3. As Attorney General, he filed a lawsuit against the city of Birmingham over the controversial confederate monument.

In August of 2017, then-Birmingham Mayor William Bell ordered a confederate monument at the city’s Linn Park to be covered while the city explored the legality of removing it completely. “We need to take them down. We will deal with the repercussions after that,” said Birmingham City Council President Jonathan Austin. “The monuments are ‘offensive to our citizens,'” AL.com reported.

Marshall quickly jumped into action. The next day the Attorney General filed a lawsuit against the city, and Mayor William Bell, saying that covering the monument violated state law.

“In accordance with the law, my office has determined that by affixing tarps and placing plywood around the Linn Park memorial such that it is hidden from view, the defendants have ‘altered’ or ‘otherwise disturbed’ the memorial in violation of the letter and spirit of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act,” Marshall said, according to AL.com. “The city of Birmingham does not have the right to violate the law and leaves my office with no choice but to file suit.”

4. He is the founder of Mentor Marshall, a mentorship program in Marshall County

Marshall served as chairman of the Big Buddy Program while attending the University of North Carolina. The program, a student-led mentorship program affiliated with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, allowed Marshall to see the effect mentorship can have on young people’s lives.

This led him to found Mentor Marshall, a mentoring program designed to impact young people in Marshall county. The program aims to find positive, successful adults and introduce them to at-risk children. The adults then serve mentors and role models to the children to keep them in school, drug-free, and to give them hope and tools to achieve their own goals. Marshall has also been mentoring two young men himself.

5. He is an elder at his church and traveled to India on a missions trip a few years ago

Marshall is an elder at the LifePoint Church in Albertville, Ala. and traveled across the world on a missions trip a few years ago. There, his goal was to spread the gospel news of Jesus Christ to people who lived in remote villages in India.

“The Great Commission sort of directs us all in some way to be able to make that outreach to those that don’t know Christ, to be able to share,” Marshall said of the mission, according to NAAG.

This post was updated from its original version to reflect the runoff election victory.