A string of text messages from Jay Jones, Virginia’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, where he mused about violence directed toward a political rival is triggering widespread backlash and threatening to shake up the state’s November election.
But while Jones has signaled he plans to remain in the race, Republicans up and down the ballot are pressing the Democratic nominee for governor, Abigail Spanberger, to publicly call on him to step aside.
In August 2022, Jones mused about shooting then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert in text messages he sent to Republican state Del. Carrie Coyner. The texts, which were first reported by National Review and subsequently viewed by The Washington Post, have not independently been confirmed by POLITICO, but Jones has not questioned their veracity and has publicly apologized for them.
“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot,” Jones wrote. “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”
“Jay,” Coyner responded. “Please stop.”
Jones later called Coyner to continue their conversation, where he invoked the death of Gilbert’s children and said it might cause the then-speaker to change his political views, National Review reported.
The messages risk roiling Virginia’s off-year elections, with early voting already long underway in the state. Virginia’s off-year gubernatorial elections are often viewed as one of the country’s first political touchpoints following a presidential election. The state has trended blue in federal elections for years, but statewide offices are typically hypercompetitive that favor the party out of power in Washington.
Still, now-GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s victory four years ago over former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe was considered an upset, and one that rocketed him to the forefront of the Republican Party. Winning a gubernatorial election in Virginia could be the path to national stardom; Youngkin mulled a 2024 presidential bid before ultimately opting not to run, and is considered a potential 2028 contender.
Democrats have generally led in public polling for all three of the statewide elections in November: governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. Now, both Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, Spanberger’s opponent in November, and Youngkin have pressured Spanberger to urge Jones to exit the race.
“There is no ‘gosh, I’m sorry’ here,” Youngkin said in a post Saturday. “Jones doesn’t have the morality or character to drop out of this race, and his running mates Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi, and every elected Democrat in Virginia don’t have the courage to call on him to step away from this campaign in disgrace.”
Earle-Sears wrote on X Friday that the texts “should be wholly disqualifying of someone running for an office that protects the people of Virginia.”
“Jay Jones’ horrific comments are a symptom of the entire Democratic Party and his running mate, Abigail Spanberger, needs to call on him to drop out,” she said.
A poll conducted by the Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government in late September showed Spanberger with a 12-point lead over Earle-Sears among likely voters. Jones’ lead over his Republican opponent, incumbent Jason Miyares, was a much tighter 6 points.
The three offices are each elected independently. Youngkin is also term-limited; by law, Virginia’s chief executive cannot be elected to more than one full term in a row.
In a statement, Spanberger condemned the messages, but stopped short of pushing for Jones to exit the race.
“After learning of these comments [on Friday], I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted,” she said. “I made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words. What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next Governor of our Commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in our politics.”
The killing of conservative organizer Charlie Kirk last month launched a renewed focus on public discourse coming from the country’s elected officials. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, have blamed the “radical left” for the recent uptick in political violence.
Jones told WRIC ABC 8News, a Richmond-area television station, on Friday that he reached out to Gilbert and his family to apologize after the texts came to light.
“I’m sick to my stomach when I read those words,” he said. “Certainly they’re objectionable, they’re abhorrent, they have no place in Virginia, no place in this country’s discourse. Again, I am so deeply, deeply sorry.”
But he has no plans to end the campaign.
“We’re gonna continue to move forward,” he said. “This race has never been about me. It’s always been about the people of Virginia and what they deserve out of their leaders and their attorney general.”
