Jay Jones has apologized for the leaked messages but refuses to drop out of the race
Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general Jay Jones has apologized for fantasizing about killing a Republican politician in leaked text messages.
In the messages from 2022 published by National Review on Friday, Jones went on a tirade against then–Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, who had been honoring the recently deceased moderate Democratic state politician Joe Johnson Jr.
“If those guys die before me, I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something,” Jones wrote to Republican politician Carrie Coyner.
“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler, and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” Jones wrote, according to National Review.
He then reportedly told Coyner in a phone call that he wished Gilbert’s wife would watch her own child die in her arms so Gilbert might change his political views.
Jones, who is running against incumbent Republican Jason Miyares, said he takes “full responsibility” for his words but refused to leave the race.
“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach… I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children,” he said, adding that “Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong.”
Vice President J.D. Vance condemned Jones as a “very deranged person” and urged him to drop out.
The Democrat candidate for AG in Virginia has been fantasizing about murdering his political opponents in private messages. I’m sure the people hyperventilating about sombrero memes will join me in calling for this very deranged person to drop out of the race. https://t.co/ZapsWc9VFG
The controversy comes as Republicans have blamed violent rhetoric from Democrats and left-leaning activists for the assassination of conservative organizer and podcaster Charlie Kirk last month. Dozens were fired or suspended from their jobs for cheering or mocking Kirk’s death.
Democrats, however, have argued that President Donald Trump and other Republicans have also contributed to rising political tensions in the country.
