Virginia Democratic attorney general nominee Jay Jones is facing increasing pressure to withdraw from the race after a disturbing text message exchange he had with a colleague in 2022 was leaked to the public. The messages were so upsetting that they even prompted an MSNBC host to call for Jones to end his campaign.
Jones, then a Democratic Virginia House delegate, texted Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner on August 8, 2022, criticizing Republican lawmakers, including then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, according to messages obtained by the National Review.
‘He should probably be forced to withdraw from the race.’
He reportedly called Gilbert a “POS,” adding that if his Republican colleagues “die before me,” he would “go to their funerals to piss on their graves.”
“Three people, two bullets,” Jones allegedly wrote. “Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot.”
“Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones apparently continued. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
Jones also appeared to wish harm on Gilbert’s children.
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Jay Jones. Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy,” Jones reportedly wrote.
“I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they’re breeding little fascists? Yes,” he allegedly continued.
Coyner responded by asking Jones to “please stop,” adding, “It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them.”
Coyner told the National Review that she sent screenshots of the conversation to Gilbert the same day.
“On August 8, 2022, I had a text conversation with Jay Jones. What he said was not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office,” she told the news outlet. “Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert. It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official.”
Jones did not deny sending the messages. However, he initially downplayed his remarks and blamed the uproar about the messages on his opponent, Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, in a statement to WTVR-TV on Friday.
“Like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret, and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics,” Jones wrote. “Let’s be clear about what is happening in the attorney general race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign. This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia. This race is about whether Trump can control Virginia or Virginians control Virginia.”
Later that day, he issued another statement, taking “full responsibility for my actions” and extending his “deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family.”
“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” the statement reads. “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. Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong and own up to their mistakes. This was a grave mistake, and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as attorney general.”
Jones’ apology failed to stop the growing calls for his withdrawal from the race.
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Virginia State Delegate Todd Gilbert. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Miyares called Jones’ text messages “disqualifying, particularly in this era of political violence.”
“He apologized now, two years after the fact. … And he said it is only through pain that policy changes occur. Now, the idea that you think pain is what changes policy, I don’t think that’s acceptable in the public arena,” Miyares added.
President Donald Trump also urged Jones to end his campaign, calling him a “Radical Left Lunatic.”
“It has just come out that the Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones, who is running against Jason Miyares, the GREAT Attorney General in Virginia, made SICK and DEMENTED jokes, if they were jokes at all, which were not funny, and that he wrote down and sent around to people, concerning the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his wife, and their children,” Trump wrote on social media. “Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY, and the People of Virginia must continue to have a GREAT Attorney General in Jason Miyares who, by the way, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — JASON WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”
Even MSNBC host Joe Scarborough agreed that Jones should withdraw his candidacy.
“He should probably be forced to withdraw from the race. And ‘probably’ is doing a lot there,” Scarborough stated during the Monday episode of “Morning Joe.”
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger did not explicitly call for Jones to withdraw.
“After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted,” Spanberger stated. “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 the next governor of our commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in our politics.”
Blaze News asked Spanberger and the Virginia Democratic Party whether they have any plans to request that Jones withdraw from the race.
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