Virginia Democrat calls for Jay Jones to end attorney general campaign over violent text messages

The race for Virginia attorney general is mired in its first major scandal, with Democratic nominee Jay Jones revealed to have advocated violence in 2022 against one of the state’s top Republican officials and his children.

The October surprise details the former state delegate’s text messages with his GOP colleague Carrie Coyner, saying he would hypothetically give “two bullets to the head” of then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert due to his politics.

“Put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” the Black Catholic politician wrote in the conversation, which Coyner immediately shared with Gilbert. 

The messages, first reported this month in the conservative magazine The National Review, also indicate that Jones called for violence against Gilbert’s children, whom he termed “little fascists.”

“Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”

In a statement, the 36-year-old Jones acknowledged the authenticity of the messages and apologized for what he called “a grave mistake.”

“I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”

The scandal is only the latest fodder for Republicans opposing Jones’ campaign against incumbent attorney general Jason Miyares, a Republican firmly aligned with President Donald Trump. Earlier in 2022, before sending the offending texts, Jones was charged with reckless driving after being clocked driving 116 miles per hour on a Virginia highway.

A laundry list of Republicans are calling for Jones to drop out of the AG race. These include Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, statewide candidates in other races, and most of Virginia’s Republican delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives.

“Public service demands the highest standard of conduct and integrity,” the four congresspersons wrote in a statement on Oct. 8.  “We urge Mr. Jones to do what is right for Virginians and for the integrity of the office by stepping aside and dropping out of the race for Attorney General.”

At least one Democrat, statehouse candidate Jon Lucci, has also called for Jones to end his campaign.

“In the same way that I think we need as a party to rightly condemn it when that kind of language is used on the other side, we need to condemn it when it’s used on our side too,” Lucci told The Washington Post.

“As a devout Catholic and someone who believes deeply in the dignity of all human beings, I could not possibly vote for somebody who said that.”

Stopping short of joining such calls, other Democrats in Virginia and elsewhere have also condemned Jones’ comments as unacceptable, including gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger and lieutenant governor hopeful Ghazala Hashmi. 

In Virginia on Wednesday to campaign for the former, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear told The Hill he is unsure whether he would vote for Jones if he lived in the state—perhaps the most critical assessment yet from a high-profile Democrat on Jones.

For his part, AG Miyares says Jones’ comments are disqualifying and that he does not accept his apology to the Gilbert family.

“You have to be coming from an incredibly dark place to say what you said, not about a stranger, but about a colleague,” said Miyares, who is scheduled to debate Jones on Thursday, Oct. 16, at the University of Richmond. 

“I’ve said that my role as attorney general is to be the people’s protector. One of my main jobs is to stop violence. I can’t imagine now that we’re even debating an opponent that has advocated for violence.”

Internal polls conducted this week by the Jones campaign after the revelation of the text messages show him holding only a slight lead over Miyares. The incumbent’s camp released a similarly timed poll showing the Republican ahead by a thin margin.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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