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The Democrat beat out incumbent Jason Miyares for the seat despite controversial text messages that derailed his campaign.
WASHINGTON — Former Virginia State Delegate Jay Jones is projected to unseat Jason Miyares and become Virginia’s next attorney general, CBS says.
The Democrat was able to overcome plummeting polls after a reckless driving record and controversial text messages were released. Jones struggled to keep the focus on policy but stunningly won back enough of his dwindling numbers to take the race.
“This race has never been about me,” Jones told WUSA9’s Matthew Torres in October. “It’s about what Virginians deserve, an attorney general who’s going to fight for them every single day, protect their health care, keep their communities safe, and push back against the excess and chaos coming from Washington.”
According to his website, he plans to use the attorney general office to protect civil rights, expand abortion access, address affordability issues and target corporate wrongdoing.
Jones ran on being the candidate that will stand up to President Donald Trump. He positioned himself as a person who will put Virginia first.
“I don’t take orders from the president,” Jones said.
Jones grew up in Norfolk and served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2022. Before that, he worked as an assistant attorney general in D.C. in the Office of Consumer Protection.
The scandals that marred his campaign started with the discovery of a reckless driving conviction. That was followed by reports that a special prosecutor was assigned to review the community service hours he was assigned to complete after the conviction.
But that controversy was quickly overshadowed by a bigger one when Republican Del. Carrie Coyner, Jones’ former colleague in the State House, published text messages he had sent her back in 2022. In them, Jones made comments about shooting then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and compared him to Hitler and Pol Pot. Coyner also alleged that he had fantasized about urinating on the graves of his Republican colleagues.
The messages led to calls for him to withdraw from the race, which he refused to do.
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