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Tag: jay jones

  • Virginia’s new AG Jones fights DOJ on in-state tuition for immigrant students – WTOP News

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    Days after taking office, Attorney General Jay Jones (D) is reversing his predecessor’s position on the Trump administration’s fight against in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants.

    Days after taking office, Attorney General Jay Jones (D) is reversing his predecessor’s position on the Trump administration’s fight against in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants.

    Yesterday (Wednesday), Jones filed a motion to withdraw from an agreement that former Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) made with the U.S. Department of Justice in a bid to invalidate the Virginia Dream Act of 2020.

    The Justice Department challenged the Virginia law, which allows undocumented immigrants to receive in-state tuition, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on Dec. 29. A day later, Miyares joined the DOJ in seeking to have the court declare the law invalid and prevent it from being enforced.

    “On day one, I promised Virginians I would fight back against the Trump Administration’s attacks on our Commonwealth, our institutions of higher education, and most importantly – our students,” Jones said in a statement. “Virginians deserve leaders who will put them the first, and that’s exactly what my office will continue to do.”

    The DOJ declined to comment to ARLnow on Jones’ action, citing the pending litigation.

    The Virginia Dream Act of 2020 provides in-state tuition rates to higher education students meeting Virginia high school attendance requirements, regardless of their immigration status. The DOJ alleges that this discriminates against out-of-state U.S. citizens who cannot receive the same in-state tuition rates as undocumented immigrants living in Virginia.

    “This is a simple matter of federal law: in Virginia and nationwide, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a news release announcing the litigation. “This Department of Justice will not tolerate American students being treated like second-class citizens in their own country.”

    Several groups, including the Legal Aid Justice Center, ACLU of Virginia and Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, filed motions to intervene in the lawsuit after the consent judgment.

    “These are Virginia students who grew up in the Commonwealth, graduated from our high schools, contribute to our communities, and made life-altering decisions for their futures relying on a state law that has existed for years,” said Rohmah Javed, the director of the Immigrant Justice Program at the Legal Aid Justice Center. “They are Virginians in every way that matters, and they deserve someone to stand up and fight for them.”

    The DOJ has pursued similar in-state tuition lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and California.

    ___

    This story was originally published by ARLnow and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

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    WTOP Staff

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  • Virginia election winners break race and gender barriers amid national scrutiny on diversity

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    RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As the polls closed on Tuesday across Virginia, it quickly became clear it was a night of firsts: Voters overwhelmingly elected a slate of candidates who broke race and gender barriers in contests considered among the most consequential nationally.

    Republicans in Virginia also fielded a historically diverse statewide ticket that would have set records.

    The results come as President Donald Trump has made his opposition to diversity initiatives a cornerstone of his platform, dismantling federal civil rights programs that sought to rectify a complicated history of racial discrimination. He has justified those moves by saying that race and gender equity programs overcorrect for past wrongs and foment anti-American sentiment — a position shared among many conservatives across the country.

    Still, Virginia’s election results — in tandem with high-profile Democratic victories across the U.S. — call into question whether Trump’s staunch positions on race, gender and gender identity are resonating with voters.

    Stay up to date with the news and the best of AP by following our WhatsApp channel.


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    Virginia’s first female governor

    Democrat Abigail Spanberger won the Virginia governor’s race Tuesday, giving Democrats a key victory heading into the 2026 midterm elections and making history as the first woman ever to lead the Commonwealth. Her victory was decisive, with about 57% of the vote.

    The race was bound to make history regardless of who came out on top: Spanberger was running against Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, marking the first time two women were the front-runners in a general election for governor.

    In her acceptance speech, Spanberger recalled how her husband said to their three daughters, “Your mom is going to be the governor of Virginia.”

    “And I can guarantee you those words have never been spoken in Virginia, ever before,” she said, beaming.

    Spanberger said her victory meant Virginians were choosing “pragmatism over partisanship” and “leadership that will focus on problem solving and not stoking division.”

    First Muslim woman elected statewide

    Democrat Ghazala Hashmi defeated Republican John Reid in the race for lieutenant governor, becoming the first Indian American woman to win statewide office in Virginia. She is also the first Muslim woman to be elected statewide in the U.S.

    Firsts are not new to Hashmi. She was the first Muslim woman elected to the Virginia Senate five years ago. Hashmi, a former English professor born in India, said at the time that her opposition to Trump’s Muslim ban motivated her to break into politics.

    This time around, her campaign for lieutenant governor focused less on her identity and more on key issues, such as health and education. Still, some said her identity was a prominent factor in the race. Reid recently took to social media to tie Hashmi to Zohran Mamdani, the first Muslim elected mayor of New York City, despite marked differences in their platforms, nationalities and ages — a comparison critics said was Islamophobic.

    Like the governor’s race, the battle for lieutenant governor would have been historic either way: Reid was the first openly gay man nominated to statewide office in Virginia, and he faced hurdles on the trail in connection to his sexuality. GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin asked him to leave the ticket after opposition research linked him to a social media account with sexually explicit photos of men. At the time, Reid said he felt betrayed.

    In her victory speech, Hashmi said her candidacy reflected progress in the state and nation.

    “My own journey — from a young child landing at the airport in Savannah, Georgia, to now being elected as the first Muslim woman to achieve statewide office in Virginia and in the entire country — is only possible because of the depth and breadth of opportunities made available in this country and in this commonwealth.”

    Son of civil rights pioneers to be attorney general

    Democrat Jay Jones defeated Republican incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, becoming the first Black person elected as top prosecutor in the former capital of the Confederacy.

    Jones, a former Virginia delegate, comes from a long line of racial-justice trailblazers — a fact he emphasized throughout his campaign and after his victory.

    “My ancestors were slaves. My grandfather was a civil rights pioneer who braved Jim Crow,” Jones said Tuesday. “My mother, my uncles, my aunts endured segregation, all so that I could stand before you today.”

    That said, Jones’ victory is as much a referendum on dissatisfaction with the government shutdown and Trump’s mass firings, which have hit Virginia especially hard due to its high concentration of federal workers.

    Ever since Democrat Jimmy Carter won the White House in 1976, every time a new president has been elected, Virginia has voted in a governor the following year from the opposite party.

    Jones’ win comes after Miyares, elected in 2021, became the first Latino to hold a Virginia statewide office.

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  • Spanberger win leads Democratic sweep of statewide races in Virginia – WTOP News

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    Election Day has brought two major victories for Democrats in Virginia’s statewide races.

    Stay with WTOP on air, online and on our news app for team coverage, live results and analyses of election night in Virginia. Listen live.

    Abigail Spanberger has won a historic election to become Virginia’s first female governor and led a Democratic sweep of statewide races in an pivotal election ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

    Down ballot, Democrat Jay Jones won the attorney general race and Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi won the lieutenant governor race.

    The candidates’ wins dashed Republican hopes of maintaining power in all three top offices, currently led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin alongside Attorney General Jason Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who both lost their campaigns.

    More Election News

    Spanberger, a former congresswoman, won 57.5% of the vote and Earle-Sears fell behind with 42.3%, according to The Associated Press with 97% of votes counted as of 12:50 a.m.

    In the lieutenant governor race, Hashmi walked away with 55.6% of the vote, while Republican radio host John Reid fell behind with 44.1%, The Associated Press reported at 12:55 a.m. with 97% of votes counted. Hashmi will succeed Earle-Sears as the new lieutenant governor.

    Jones’ victory squashed Miyares’ bid for a second term as Virginia’s top prosecutor.

    The Democratic challenger prevailed over the incumbent despite controversy surrounding resurfaced text messages referencing political violence. Jones pulled ahead winning 53.1% of the vote while Miyares earned 46.5%, The Associated Press reported at 12:55 a.m. with 97% of votes counted.

    The results also mark a major victory for Democrats in an election that both parties have viewed as a bellwether for the midterm elections in 2026.

    Virginia’s election is also treated by analysts as a measure of voter attitudes amid a lengthy government shutdown during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.

    Outside the statewide races, all 100 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates were up for grabs Tuesday. Democrats are projected to maintain their majority in the lower chamber.

    A moderate approach wins a high-stakes governor’s race

    The governor’s race was called in favor of Spanberger about one hour after polls closed.

    Spanberger delivered a victory speech in Richmond on Tuesday night, touching on topics such as education, abortion rights and the federal workforce.

    “We sent a message to every corner of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors and our fellow Americans across the country,” Spanberger told a crowd of supporters. “We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos.”

    Supporters at the celebration in the state’s capital shared their excitement with WTOP’s Scott Gelman.

    “This is history, the first woman governor in Virginia, and the right person to do the job,” said Monica Lucus, of Richmond. “I think it’s time for a change, and this is a burst of energy that the country needs, not just Virginia but the country.”

    After losing the governor’s race, Earle-Sears said she left a voicemail for Spanberger to wish her success.

    “I asked her to support policies that will unite us, that will not divide us, that will strengthen our families and keep us safe, and that if I can ever be of help doing that, I’m here,” Earle-Sears said at her campaign headquarters in Stafford County.

    Surveys showed Spanberger carried a commanding lead over Earle-Sears in the weeks leading up to Election Day.

    Spanberger had also far outraised her Republican opponent, bringing in more than $65 million compared to Earle-Sears’ $35 million, according to recent campaign finance reports shared by the Virginia Public Access Project.

    Though the election guaranteed to name the state’s first woman as governor, neither candidate made the race’s historic nature a focal point of their campaigns, instead focusing on topics such as the economy.

    Spanberger, a former CIA case officer and member of Congress, had said the election is about the struggles of everyday voters, including those impacted by cuts to the federal workforce or tariffs. She took a more moderate approach and avoided talking about Trump.

    Earle-Sears drew attention to transgender students in public schools and reducing the cost of living. Before taking office as lieutenant governor, Earle-Sears served in the U.S. Marine Corps and in the Virginia House of Delegates during the early 2000s.

    Attorney general race stirs up old texts

    Jones thanked Miyares for his service as attorney general and praised his supporters.

    “To the folks who stood by us every single step of the way, labor. We love you,” Jones said during a speech in Richmond. “The weight of that trust is not lost on me at all, nor is the history that led us to this moment right here. My ancestors were slaves. My grandfather was a civil rights pioneer who braved Jim Crow. My father, my mother, my uncles, my aunts endured segregation all so that I could stand here before you today.”

    In the final weeks before Election Day, the attorney general race spotlighted old text messages sent by Jones that showed he fantasized about political violence toward a former colleague.

    Jones has apologized for those texts, but they sparked pushback from the GOP nationwide, and Republicans called for the Democratic nominee to drop out of the race.

    During the candidates’ debate, Jones attempted to refocus the race on Trump and said Miyares couldn’t push back on overreach from the White House.

    Miyares had argued that Jones is unqualified and pressed him on the text messages.

    But during a speech Tuesday night, he wished Jones the best and reflected on his time as attorney general.

    “The attorney general’s office we inherited was weak and a soft office focused more on politics, but we made it focused on where the victims should always come first, where crime fighting was our number one priority, and public safety was the objective,” Miyares said of his time in office.

    Lieutenant governor’s race makes history

    Hashmi will take over the lieutenant governor position from Earle-Sears, who opted against running for reelection and instead campaigned for governor.

    Hashmi is the first Indian American to win statewide office in Virginia. She will also be the country’s first Muslim woman in statewide office.

    “I know that many of us feel as though the nation is in the midst of challenges that are much deeper and more intense than those we have faced before, and that it will take us generations to repair,” Hashmi told a crowd in Richmond. “But let us not forget that the challenges we endure today are not entirely new, and they can be navigated.”

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    Voters cast ballots in high-stakes election in Virginia

    Before being elected to the Virginia General Assembly, Hashmi was an academic administrator. She has pushed for issues such as reproductive health care, gun violence protection and the economy.

    Polls had leaned in favor of Hashmi, with a slight lead of around two points over Reid in recent weeks. Both candidates are based out of the Richmond area.

    Reid has also spotlighted the economy in his campaign, along with law enforcement, parental rights and immigration enforcement.

    Early in his career, Reid worked as an intern for President Ronald Reagan. He has served as chief communications officer for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a veterans organization, according to his website.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Jessica Kronzer

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  • Spanberger Cruising in Virginia, But Scandal Could Take Down AG Candidate

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    Abigail Spanberger on the campaign trail.
    Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

    Virginia’s off-year elections have predictably lined up as a negative referendum on Donald Trump’s fractious second-term agenda. But while the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidate, the centrist congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, looks to be cruising toward a comfortable win over Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, there’s trouble two spots downballot. A scandal involving newly unearthed 2022 text messages from attorney general nominee Jay Jones has roiled his close race against incumbent Republican Jason Miyares and discomfited his ticket-mates (statewide candidates in Virginia run separately but often campaign together). While Spanberger and the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, Ghazala Hamshi, have denounced the texts, which wished terrible deaths for a Republican legislative leader and his family, they haven’t asked Jones to withdraw from the race as the GOP and its allied media have predictably demanded.

    So Virginia Democrats have been thrown off-balance, and limited polling shows Jones in serious trouble. Hamshi’s race against Republican John Reid for the LG position is also very close. But Republican hopes that the scandal would derail Spanberger’s campaign don’t look to be realistic at all. For one thing, Jones’s troubles are mostly just convincing voters to skip the AG race rather than voting Republican, which mitigates the damage to his own candidacy and isolates the fallout. For another, Donald Trump is just a lodestone for the GOP that’s too difficult to throw off, as veteran Virginia political reporter Jeff Schapiro recently observed:

    The ongoing federal government shutdown, triggered Oct. 1 by a partisan standoff in Congress, and preceded by a wave of DOGE-induced layoffs and retirements of government workers that, starting this past winter, fueled a steady increase in joblessness into the final months of the Virginia campaign. These spikes are most evident in Washington’s Northern Virginia suburbs but they are flaring elsewhere in the state.

    Further, Trump’s tariffs are eroding by nearly 10% cargo traffic through the state’s gateway to the world, the Port of Virginia, a pillar of the coastal Virginia economy along with surrounding military bases and related federal civilian employment.

    Add in unhappiness with Trump’s mass-deportation overreach among Virginia’s sizable population of immigrant citizens, and it’s clear the usual swing against the party controlling the White House (which gave the commonwealth Republican governor Glenn Youngkin four years ago) has been intensified this year. Spanberger has also run a highly disciplined campaign, fueled by a big funding advantage over Sears-Earle. So while Virginia experienced a significant swing toward the GOP in 2024 (Kamala Harris won it by just under six points; Joe Biden won it by ten in 2020), it’s still a blue state in a blue mood over a Republican presidency.

    Aside from the Jones brouhaha, there’s one other late development that some Republicans think might help them: a surprise decision by Democratic legislative leaders to undertake a long-shot effort to get a constitutional amendment enacted so they can draw up a favorable congressional map prior to next year’s midterms. But since over a million Virginians have already voted early, and the gerrymandering process is extremely tentative and complex, it seems unlikely to have an impact other than on the margins.

    Gubernatorial polls show no late Republican trend. The most recent publicly released survey, from Roanoke College, showed Spanberger with a ten-point lead over Earle-Sears (51 percent to 41 percent). The RealClearPolitics polling averages have the Democrat leading by 7.2 percent. The only poll indicating a really close race was a mid-October finding from the decidedly pro-GOP combine of Trafalgar and Insider Advantage, and even they gave Spanberger a three-point advantage. Jay Jones may or may not go down, but barring a shocker, Virginia will be governed by Democrats, almost certainly in a trifecta, next year.

    One historical note worth mentioning: no matter who wins the race, Spanberger will be the first woman to serve as governor or senator of Virginia. That will leave Pennsylvania as the only state that has never broken the male monopoly on these positions.

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    Ed Kilgore

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  • Will Virginia’s race for governor be bellwether for congressional midterms? – WTOP News

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    Virginia is in the political spotlight, as pundits will look to the result of the state’s election for governor between Abigail Spanberger and Winsome Earle-Sears for clues about next year’s midterms.

    For all the latest developments in Congress, follow WTOP Capitol Hill correspondent Mitchell Miller at Today on the Hill.

    Virginia’s race for governor is historic and the focus of the nation’s attention, as Republicans and Democrats seek momentum going into next year’s congressional midterm elections.

    Whether voters choose Democratic former Rep. Abigail Spanberger or Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, history will be made with the election of the first woman as governor of the Commonwealth.

    Virginia and New Jersey are in the political spotlight this fall, since they are the only states holding off-year elections for governor.

    “When you look at the election for governor of Virginia in this year, you really recognize that, at least right now, all politics are national,” said Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington.

    Spanberger has leaned into criticizing President Donald Trump for firing and laying off tens of thousands of federal employees since he’s returned to the White House.

    Virginia has the second-most federal employees of any state in the country, only trailing California.

    Earle-Sears supports the president’s efforts to trim federal bureaucracy and Trump recently told reporters he believes she is a “very good” candidate, while calling Spanberger a “disaster.”

    Impact of AG race and texting scandal

    The down-ballot attorney general’s race has altered the gubernatorial campaign, with the revelation that Democratic candidate Jay Jones texted a Republican colleague in 2022, wishing deadly violence on then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his family.

    Earle-Sears, whose candidacy has had difficulty raising money and at times been privately criticized by GOP strategists, has sought to capitalize on the scandal. She aired a television ad from the debate during which she pressed Spanberger to discuss her support for Jones and the texting issue, as the Democratic candidate remained silent.

    Spanberger has condemned what Jones said and has sought to distance herself from the matter.

    Farnsworth said Earle-Sears has had difficulty finding an issue to get “traction for her campaign” and that pressing Spanberger on whether she still backs Jones has been “the most compelling” issue of her campaign.

    “But it doesn’t seem like it’s really big enough to move the governor’s race, particularly given how aggressively Spanberger has condemned what Jones said,” Farnsworth noted.

    Polls have consistently shown Spanberger with a lead over Earle-Sears, who could become the first Black woman in the country to be elected governor.

    But a recent poll indicated the race may have tightened.

    Virginia as a bellwether

    Farnsworth said it is important for Democrats to win both the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, if they are to make an argument that they are developing momentum to alter the balance of power in Congress.

    “Oftentimes, Virginia is seen as a leading political indicator, maybe more so than New Jersey, because we’re more purple than New Jersey is,” Farnsworth said. “But the reality for both parties is that you want the bragging rights of having a good year in Virginia in year one of a presidential term, to give you a sense of inevitability of gains during year two — the midterm congressional elections.”

    Democrats only need to pick up a handful of seats to regain power in the U.S. House.

    Farnsworth said Spanberger and former New Jersey Rep. Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic candidate for governor in the Garden State, are both quality candidates.

    They also have the advantage of a lot of “frustration and anger” among Democratic voters, aimed at the president, which helps drive turnout.

    But polls have shown a tightening of the race between Sherrill and Republican Jack Ciattarelli, who has been endorsed by Trump. Farnsworth said it would be a “very, very bad sign for Democrats” going into the midterms if they don’t prevail in both states, but especially in Virginia.

    Former President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he plans to campaign in Virginia for Spanberger, appearing with her in Norfolk on Nov. 1.

    “Virginia’s elections are some of the most important in the country this year,” Obama said in a recently released ad for Spanberger.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Mitchell Miller

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  • Virginia AG candidates Jay Jones and Jason Miyares clash over violent rhetoric in feisty debate – WTOP News

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    Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares and Democratic challenger Jay Jones squabbled over a host of lawyerly issues on Thursday in their first and only debate: criminal prosecutions, consumer protection and unlawful discrimination. But one matter overshadowed it all: Jones’ leaked text messages endorsing political violence toward a former colleague.

    RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares and Democratic challenger Jay Jones squabbled over a host of lawyerly issues on Thursday in their first and only debate: criminal prosecutions, consumer protection and unlawful discrimination. But one matter overshadowed it all: Jones’ leaked text messages endorsing political violence toward a former colleague.

    Miyares, the Republican incumbent running for reelection, pushed hard against Jones for suggesting to a Republican delegate in 2022 text messages that former Virginia Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert should get “two bullets to the head.”

    Referencing a quote from President Abraham Lincoln, Miyares started the debate by saying: “Character is what you do in the dark when no one is watching. But now we know what he (Jones) was doing in the dark.”

    Jones apologized for his words from the start.

    “Let me be very clear,” he said. “I am ashamed, I am embarrassed and I’m sorry.”

    Still, the Democrat rebuffed Miyares by noting that violent rhetoric can be heard on both sides of the aisle, and that President Donald Trump has been known to use extreme language at times.

    “What about when Donald Trump used incendiary language to incite a riot to try to overturn an election here in this country?” Jones said, adding, “You haven’t said a word. I’ve taken accountability for my mistakes. It’s time you take accountability, too.”

    The race for attorney general of Virginia has emerged as one of the most competitive statewide contests in this year’s election, with members of both parties taking an interest in the down-ballot race. Straight-ticket voting is not an option in Virginia, which requires voters to choose candidates in each statewide contest.

    While Republican Winsome Earle-Sears has faced setbacks in her race for governor, as has John Reid, the GOP lieutenant governor nominee, the attorney general’s race remains fiercely competitive. Last week, it spilled over into the governor’s race when former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for governor, refused to say during a debate whether she still supported Jones’ candidacy, suggesting it was up to the voters to decide.

    Jones and Miyares tangled over the violent text message for much of the debate. The way Miyares told it, Jones’ texts about shooting a prominent Republican disqualified him from the race to be Virginia’s lead prosecutor.

    Jones, in turn, spent much of his time arguing that Miyares lacked the nerve to sue the White House if the Trump administration overreached.

    “Jason hangs out with Donald Trump at MAGA rallies,” Jones said. “I will see Jason Miyares and Donald Trump in court as your next attorney general.”

    The candidates tackled other legal matters likely to involve the attorney general’s office, including the enforcement of Virginia’s clean energy law and the scope of Virginia’s Human Rights Act, a state law prohibiting discrimination.

    Miyares and Jones also exchanged jabs on which candidate would do a better job of keeping Virginians safe. Miyares argued that Jones lacked the experience to hold criminals to account, citing a story by The Richmond Times-Dispatch of a Virginia state trooper clocking Jones speeding 116 miles per hour.

    Jones, for his part, touted his record serving as a delegate in the Virginia House, where he said he supported legislation cracking down on sex offenders and human trafficking. He also referenced his experience going after ghost gun manufacturers while working in the attorney general’s office for the District of Columbia.

    At one point, a moderator from the Virginia State Bar asked the candidates how they viewed the attorney general’s office — as a political or legal one.

    “It’s clearly a legal one, and that’s exactly why we have to hold the president accountable, go after Donald Trump and the bad actions of this administration,” Jones eagerly responded.

    Miyares side-stepped the question, saying it’s an office there to protect Virginians.

    “Jay Jones wants fights in Washington,” he said. “He’s running for the wrong office.”

    ___

    Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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    © 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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    WTOP Staff

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  • WATCH: Virginia attorney general candidates debate with text scandal front and center – WTOP News

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    The two candidates for Virginia attorney general, Republican incumbent Jason Miyares and his Democratic challenger Jay Jones, squared off Thursday night in their first and only debate before Election Day on Nov. 4.

    The debate took place at University of Richmond, and came just two weeks after text messages sent by Jones three years ago that show him fantasizing about shooting a Republican Virginia lawmaker were made public.

    Watch the debate below.

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    Thomas Robertson

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  • Will text message scandal derail Democratic success in Virginia election? – WTOP News

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    Virginia’s election is only a few weeks away and the race for attorney general is drawing attention following the discovery of text messages sent in 2022 by Democratic nominee Jay Jones.

    Virginia’s election is only a few weeks away and the race for attorney general is drawing attention following the discovery of text messages sent in 2022 by Democratic nominee Jay Jones.

    In the messages, which recently resurfaced, Jones described a hypothetical scenario in which he would kill then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. The messages were sent to Republican House of Delegates candidate Carrie Coyner.

    At the time, Jones wrote:

    • 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

    Polling

    Since the discovery, Jones has faced numerous calls from both Democrats and Republicans to drop out of the race. Polls have also shown the margins tightening between him and Republican incumbent candidate Jason Miyares.

    Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball from the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said whether or not Miyares is really leading in polls remains to be seen.

    “I don’t think we’ve really gotten true, nonpartisan polling of the race. Since the news about Jay Jones came out, there have been a few polls — including one from Jones’ campaign — that showed Jones losing ground, which makes sense. I mean, this is a huge story in Virginia politics,” Kondik said.

    Thursday’s AG debate

    The candidates for attorney general are set to have their first and only debate on Thursday.

    Kondik said Miyares will likely try to ensure Jones’ text messages stay front and center in the minds of voters.

    “I think the key thing is, what happens in this debate, and does it either sustain or stall this story?” Kondik said.

    He also highlighted new advertisements incorporating the text messages from Jones.

    “Miyares has already run, what I think are, some pretty effective ads using this text messaging story against Jones. And so he should be able to have some sort of advantage on that down the stretch of the election,” Kondik said.

    National politics and ticket splitting

    Despite the recent controversy surrounding Jones, Kondik said the current political environment still favors Democrats in Virginia politics. He also pointed to the polling in Virginia’s race for governor, which shows Democrat Abigail Spanberger leading Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

    “The challenge is, I think, it’s still probably a Democratic-leaning environment overall, in Virginia and nationally in 2025,” Kondik said. “I do think Abigail Spanberger is still favored in the governor’s race, and then the question is whether there are long enough coattails to allow Jones to win.”

    He said ticket splitting has been on the decline in Virginia and it’s a great test to see how potent ticket splitting is.

    “It’s possible that Jones gets beat up on this story for the rest of the campaign, but still is able to win just because of these bigger picture factors,” Kondik said.

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Acacia James

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  • Virginia Democratic nominee sidesteps Jay Jones question during debate

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    Abigail Spanberger, Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, declined to say on Thursday whether she still endorsed her party’s attorney general hopeful, Jay Jones, who is facing a storm of criticism over 2022 text messages suggesting the former Virginia House speaker should be shot.

    Why It Matters

    Along with New Jersey, Virginia, is one of only two states holding a gubernatorial election this year and the races are being closely watched as litmus tests of support for both parties ahead of next year’s midterms. Democrats are hoping for a 2018-style “blue wave” next year that will help them flip control of Congress.

    Virginia has trended Democratic in recent presidential elections but saw Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin secure a narrow victory in 2021, signaling the state’s battleground status. 

    A new poll by Emerson College on Thursday showed Spanberger leading Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears by 10 points in Old Dominion’s gubernatorial race. The election is set for November 4.

    What To Know

    Jones, a Democrat, faces intensifying pressure to drop out of the election race after texts he once sent suggesting a former Virginia House speaker should receive “two bullets to the head” were made public.

    President Donald Trump is among Republicans who have called on Jones to drop out of the election for attorney general, which is also on November 4, over his texts sent in 2022 that called for violence against former State House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his family.

    In the only debate between the two candidates for governor on Thursday, Spanberger said she denounced the texts but she repeatedly declined to say whether she would withdraw her support for Jones, saying it should be left to the voters.

    “The voters now have the information, and it is up to voters to make an individual choice based on this information,” she said.

    Pressed by the debate moderator on whether she endorsed Jones, Spanberger said: “We are all running our individual races … As of now, it’s up to every voter to make their own individual decision.”

    Earle-Sears also pressed her rival on the issue of the texts that became public in recent days amid new worries of political violence in the aftermath of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

    “My opponent needs to answer about Jay Jones,” Earle-Sears said.

    The texts written by Jones were first reported by National Review and viewed by The Washington Post. Newsweek has not independently verified the messages, but Jones has not questioned their veracity and has apologized for them. 

    What People Are Saying

    Trump, on Truth Social: “Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones…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.”

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on Monday: “I think the president himself made his position very clear, and I think anyone could agree, the messages that were sent by the Democrat nominee for attorney general in Virginia are really shocking, alarming and completely unacceptable. He was threatening to kill his opponent and his opponent’s children, and that type of rhetoric has zero place in our country, and the president was absolutely right to condemn that.”

    What Happens Next

    The Virginia elections will take place on November 4.

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  • Are Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones’ old texts having an impact on voters’ decisions? – WTOP News

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    Days after Virginia Attorney General Candidate Jay Jones apologized for violent text messages he sent in 2022, some Fairfax County voters said they’re standing by him, while others maintain it’s influenced their choice.

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    Are Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones’ old texts having an impact on voters’ decisions?

    Days after Virginia Attorney General Candidate Jay Jones apologized for violent text messages he sent in 2022, some Fairfax County voters said they’re standing by him, while others say it has influenced their choice.

    In the messages, which recently resurfaced, Jones described a hypothetical scenario in which he would kill then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. They were sent to Republican House of Delegates candidate Carrie Coyner in 2022.

    Jones recently issued an apology, but Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have called for him to exit the race. Jones is facing Republican incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares on the ballot.

    “Extremely disappointing,” Debbie Lansford said before voting Wednesday at the Fairfax County Government Center. “What people will say in private indicates a lot about who they are. So unfortunate for Jay Jones.”

    Lansford said she’s an independent voter, and thought news of the old messages would impact her vote.

    Donelle Sawyer, meanwhile, said, “I need to know more about it. That’s what I feel like I need to do.”

    In many cases, voters said Wednesday that news of the violent texts didn’t change their approach at the ballot box.

    “It gave me pause when I came here to vote today,” Emily Gross said, though she ultimately said the messages didn’t impact her vote.

    Peter Anderson said the messages are private, and “it is a factor in my decision, but not the determinative factor.” Instead, he said he focused on the policies each candidate supports.

    Early voting in Fairfax County started last month and ends Nov. 1.

    On social media, Trump called Jones a “radical left lunatic” and called for him to drop out of the race “immediately.”

    Jeffrey Switzer, who said he wasn’t going to vote for Jones before the messages resurfaced, said he “can’t believe the guy that wants to be the top cop in Virginia wants to kill his opponents and his opponents’ children. It was a crazy, crazy statement.”

    Christine Watson said she voted for Democrats “straight down the line” because “there have been so many horrible things that has happened, that the Republicans have said. What he said was terrible, but our country is heading in a very bad direction. I’m overlooking it for this time.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Scott Gelman

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  • Republicans See an Upset in Violent Texts From Virginia Democrat

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    A once-happy Virginia Democratic ticket.
    Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

    Until very recently, the much-watched off-year elections in Virginia were looking pretty bad for Republicans. Their gubernatorial candidate, Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears, has been struggling to compete financially and politically with Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a centrist congresswoman. Specific candidacies aside, Virginia has a long history of rejecting gubernatorial candidates from the party controlling the White House (which helped outgoing Republican governor Glenn Youngkin defeat Terry McAuliffe in 2021). Add in the Commonwealth’s recent blue-leaning tendencies and the terrible treatment its many federal employees have received from the second Trump administration, and you can understand why national Republicans have been more interested in the other big off-year gubernatorial contest in New Jersey.

    But now the Virginia GOP may have caught a break via some oppo research on the Democratic candidate for attorney general by National Review:

    On August 8, 2022, a Republican state legislator received a disturbing string of early-morning text messages from a former colleague, Jay Jones, this year’s Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general …

    Jones, who at the time had recently resigned from the state house after a brief stint representing Norfolk, had strong feelings about how the political class was eulogizing recently deceased former state legislator Joe Johnson Jr., a moderate Democrat with a long tenure in Virginia politics …

    “If those guys die before me,” Jones wrote, referencing the Republican colleagues who were publicly honoring the deceased Johnson’s memory, “I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something.”

    Jones then suggested that, presented with a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of murdering then-Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert or two dictators, he’d shoot Gilbert “every time.”

    Apparently the texts were intended for a different recipient, but Jones’s words shouldn’t have been said to anybody about anybody. He reportedly compounded the offense in a follow-up phone call to the accidental recipient of the text suggesting that “he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views.”

    This was years ago, and Jones hasn’t displayed any offline violent tendencies, but as you can imagine, Republicans see a huge opportunity: not just to potentially defeat Jones (who was favored to win before all this controversy) but to divide and defeat the entire Democratic statewide ticket, as Axios explains:

    Leading Virginia Democrats, including the statewide ticket, have condemned the comments Jones made in 2022 suggesting a hypothetical scenario in which he would shoot the then-Republican House speaker and wished harm on his children.

    But none have called for Jones to step aside …

    Gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears and lieutenant governor nominee John Reid are pressuring their opponents on social media to call on Jones to drop out.

    Jones, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger and lieutenant governor nominee Ghazala Hashmi’s campaigns didn’t immediately respond to Axios’ request for comment.

    Unsurprisingly, those great advocates for civility in political discourse, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, have jumped into the fray with the latter quickly using the texts to defend himself and his boss for their own recent lapses in taste:

    Conservative media is all over this story, and Jones’s abject apologies for the texts have cut no ice in those circles. He’s not the real target anyway; it’s Spanberger, and as Axios put it, “pushing Jones off the ticket could fracture Democrats’ chances in a pivotal statewide race seen as a bellwether for next year.” To be clear, in Virginia statewide candidates run independently, so there’s not really a “ticket” the gubernatorial nominee can control. For another, Jones is the sole Black statewide Democratic nominee, in a state where Democrats rely heavily on robust Black turnout.

    I’m sure there’s back-channel talk about Jones “doing the right thing” and relieving his colleagues of his problems, along with pushback against the cynical manipulation of the “crisis” by Republicans. White House policy director Stephen Miller commented that Jones’s texts showed how “dangerously radicalized the Democrat Party has become.” But then Miller very clearly believes the “Democrat Party” should be outlawed, since, as he recently said, it is “an entity devoted exclusively [his emphasis] to the defense of hardened criminals, gang-bangers, and illegal, alien killers and terrorists.” Pleasing the likes of Miller would be galling for Virginia Democrats. Perhaps Jones and his party can tough it all out, but MAGA folk will incessantly use his example to buttress their absurd argument that the main source of violent political talk is left of center and will perhaps even pull off an electoral shocker in a time and place in which the Boss and his agenda aren’t very popular.


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    Ed Kilgore

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  • Dems Refuse To Condemn Virginia Candidate Who Fantasized About Killing Republican Lawmaker

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    Jay Jones once texted that he hoped someone would put two bullets into head of then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. Jones then said he would piss on Gilbert’s grave. In a separate text he wanted Gilbert’s children to be killed in front of their mother. He called the children little fascists.

    Jones is the Democratic nominee for attorney general in Virginia. And many are horrified over his private musings about political assassinations. However, not a single Democrat has called for Jones to pull out of the race.

    Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running for governor, condemned the Democrats for their silent endorsement of Jones.

    Earle-Sears wrote on X Friday that the texts “should be wholly disqualifying of someone running for an office that protects the people of Virginia.”

    “Jay Jones’ horrific comments are a symptom of the entire Democratic Party and his running mate, Abigail Spanberger, needs to call on him to drop out,” she said.

    Current Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin also blasted Democrats.

    “There is no ‘gosh, I’m sorry’ here,” Youngkin said in a post Saturday. “Jones doesn’t have the morality or character to drop out of this race, and his running mates Abigail Spanberger, Ghazala Hashmi, and every elected Democrat in Virginia don’t have the courage to call on him to step away from this campaign in disgrace.”

    Mark Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, told the Washington Post the texts will shake the contest.

    “Just the messages on their face: Those were really horrible things to communicate about a political opponent,” Rozell said. “There’s no explanation in this world that would excuse it, that could justify it. Republicans are going to have a day with it, as they should.”

    President Trump issued a statement through Truth. Social calling for Jones to step aside in the race.

    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. Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Governor, is weak and ineffective, and refuses to acknowledge what this Lunatic has done. Even Democrats are saying it is “RESIGNATION FROM CAMPAIGN” TERRITORY. 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!

    But over the weekend Democrat lawmaker stood in the pulpit of a black church and justified the vile threats made in text messages written by Jones. It was reprehensible. Why won’t Democrats condemn political violence?

    The reason why the DNC has not called on Jay Jones to withdraw from the race is very simple. They, too, wish they could kill Republicans, piss on their graves and then force Republican mothers to watch as their children are slaughtered.

    The cancel culture movement has given way to the assassination culture movement. That’s why so many Democrats across the country celebrated the assassination of Charlie Kirk and why so many were disappointed when President Trump survived not one, but two attempts on his life.

    The Democrat Party has become the Party of Satan.

    Syndicated with permission from ToddStarnes.com – founded by best-selling author and journalist Todd Starnes. Starnes is the recipient of an RTNDA Edward R. Murrow Award and the Associated Press Mark Twain Award for Storytelling.

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    Todd Starnes

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  • Va. attorney general nominee apologizes for violent text messages about former GOP House Speaker – WTOP News

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    The Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, Jay Jones, apologized Friday after text messages in which he jokingly sent to a colleague about shooting former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert surfaced.

    The Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, Jay Jones, apologized Friday after text messages in which he jokingly sent to a colleague about shooting former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert surfaced.

    The National Review was first to report on Jones’ text messages that were sent to Republican House of Delegates candidate Carrie Coyner in 2022. At the time, Jones wrote:

    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

    Coyner responded: “Please stop. … It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them.”

    In a statement, Jones said he takes full responsibility for his actions and apologized to Gilbert and his family.

    “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” he wrote. “I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”

    Brandon Jarvis, founder and managing editor of Virginia Scope, spoke with WTOP anchor Nick Iannelli about the messages and its effect in the attorney general race.

    Jarvis said that Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger “said that she had a conversation with Jones, told him that she does not like the comments he made. She called them disgusting, and then she pivoted toward lowering the partisan hatred.”

    In a statement, Spanberger wrote, “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 as the next Governor of our Commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in our politics.”

    Earlier this week, Jones also reportedly had multiple incidents of speeding and was cited by Virginia State Police for driving at 116 mph down Interstate 64 in 2022, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

    “We couldn’t find any evidence of him being arrested at the time for that very high speed. He did serve 1,000 hours of community service. About 500 of the hours were served with his own political action committee,” Jarvis said.

    Jones’ statement left his current run for the state’s attorney general seat up in the air.

    “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,” he wrote.

    Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears said in a video posted to X that Jones should drop out of the attorney general race and criticized Spanberger for eliciting political violence by calling on voters to “let your rage fuel you.”

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    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

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    Ciara Wells

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