‘If you were to apply to be a line prosecutor … you would not pass a background check,’ Virginia AG Jason Miyares tells Jones
RICHMOND—Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones faced a bruising over his texts fantasizing about killing a Republican and the death of that lawmaker’s children during Thursday night’s debate against his incumbent opponent, Jason Miyares.
“We have seen a window to who Jay Jones is and the way he thinks of people who disagree with him,” Miyares, a Republican, said during his opening statement. “What did he want to do to [former Virginia house speaker] Todd Gilbert? ‘Two bullets to the head.’ Why? Because he didn’t like his politics.”
Miyares repeatedly incorporated the texts into his responses throughout the debate, as well.
“The reality, Jay, is that your text messages that advocated for violence against innocent children—Jay, if you were to apply to be a line prosecutor … in any attorney general office in the country, you would not pass a background check,” Miyares said, noting that Jones personally knew Gilbert.
“Jennifer [Gilbert] would come to the general assembly. She would bring her children. We would see them run in the hallways,” he continued.
Jones sent the texts in question to Virginia state delegate Carrie Coyner (R.) in 2022, telling her, “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. He laid out a hypothetical “three people, two bullets” scenario and listed Gilbert alongside Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot. Jones also wrote that he would go to Republican colleagues’ funerals to “piss on their graves” and “send them out awash in something.” He then suggested in a call with Coyner that he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own children die so that Gilbert would change his political views.
Jones, a former state delegate from Norfolk, tried addressing the controversy during his own opening statements by offering an apology.
“Let me be very clear. I am ashamed. I am embarrassed, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry to Speaker Gilbert. I’m sorry to his family. I’m sorry to my family, and I’m sorry to every single Virginian,” Jones said. “I cannot take back what I said, but you have my word that I will always be accountable for my mistakes.”
Miyares questioned Jones’s authenticity.
“Right now you may say that you are sorry, but look back at what happened,” he said. “You had three years to say you’re sorry, Jay, and you didn’t. Three years to actually recognize what you did was horrific. You chose to stay silent.”
“He keeps saying that he is sorry,” Miyares added. “Jay, if you’re really sorry, you wouldn’t be running.”
The first debate question also centered on Jones’s texts, as well as on another stain on his record: The Democrat was convicted of reckless driving in 2022 after police found him driving 116 miles per hour on a highway.
Jones didn’t address the texts and instead said he was “held accountable” for the speeding conviction by his fellow Democrats and the Virginia State Police, having to pay a fine, complete a “rigorous” driver improvement course, and complete community service.
Miyares accused Jones of “misleading the court” by performing work for his own PAC to complete that community service. He also called out Jones for repeatedly dodging scrutiny throughout the debate by invoking President Donald Trump.
“As attorney general, I can’t wait to see Donald Trump in court. I will never flinch or back down from him,” Jones said at one point.
Miyares responded, “There he goes again. 15 times he’s said the name of the president. Not one time has he said the name of a victim. That tells me he’s a politician, not a prosecutor. He’s never prosecuted a day in his life. That’s the reason why law enforcement has said he has disqualified himself,” Miyares said.
Jones’s polling numbers have taken a nosedive since National Review uncovered the text messages. Recent surveys have given Miyares a slight edge, including a 5-point lead in a Trafalgar Group poll conducted this week.
