Topline<\/p>\n
Virginia\u2019s Democratic nominee for attorney general, Jay Jones, wrote about shooting the state\u2019s former Republican house speaker in a series of resurfaced text messages\u2014revelations that could impact the state\u2019s gubernatorial election that\u2019s seen as a national bellwether. <\/p>\n
Jay Jones addresses supporters after winning the Democratic nomination for Virginia Attorney General as wife Mavis Jones looks on in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 17, 2025. (Trevor Metcalfe\/The Virginian-Pilot\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
TNSKey Facts<\/p>\n
Jones wrote about hypothetically shooting Virginia\u2019s former Republican Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert, writing to Republican state Delegate Carrie Coyner in 2022, \u201cput Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,\u201d multiple<\/a> outlets<\/a> reported. <\/p>\n Jones apologized to Gilbert and his family in a statement to multiple<\/a> outlets<\/a> and said he is \u201cembarrassed, ashamed, and sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n The comments sparked bipartisan backlash and calls for Jones to step aside in the race, including from Vice President JD Vance, who wrote in a post<\/a> on X \u201cI\u2019m sure the people hyperventilating about sombrero memes will join me in calling for this very deranged person to drop out of the race,\u201d referring to backlash to memes President Donald Trump posted depicting House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wearing a sombrero.<\/p>\n Virginia\u2019s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Republican gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, have called on Virginia\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, to push Jones to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n Spanberger urged Jones to \u201ctake responsibility for his words\u201d and said she would \u201calways condemn violent language in our politics\u201d in a statement to Politico<\/a>, but stopped short of calling on him to exit the race. <\/p>\n Big Number<\/p>\n 12. That\u2019s the number of points Spanberger leads Earle-Sears by in a Washington Post-Schar School poll<\/a> of 1,002 Virginia likely voters conducted Sept. 25-29 (margin of error 3.4).<\/p>\n Key Background<\/p>\n Virginia\u2019s off-year elections are considered a bellwether for national politics as it\u2019s one of the first states to hold competitive races after a presidential election year and before midterms. Jones\u2019 comments come as Republicans have blamed the \u201cradical left\u201d as the prominent source of political violence in the U.S., despite multiple recent attacks on Democrats. Earle-Sears called Jones\u2019 comments \u201ca symptom of the entire Democratic Party\u201d in a post on X<\/a>. <\/p>\n Further Reading<\/p>\n Virginia AG candidate faces bipartisan backlash over violent, inflammatory text messages<\/a> (CBS)<\/p>\n