The Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general, Jay Jones, in 2022 sent several politically violent text messages to his former colleague, Carrie Coyner, prompting many, including President Trump to ask him to step down from this November’s AG race.
Jones’ ties to the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s gubernatorial race Abigail Spanberger could also shake her double-digit lead.
The messages, sente in August 2022, were obtained and published by The National Review, last Friday.
What did Jones say in his text messages?
Jones said if then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his colleagues die before he does, he would “go to their funerals to piss on their graves. Send them out awash in something.”
He went on to say if he were given two bullets and had to decide who to shoot between Nazi Germany’s dictator Adolf Hitler, Cambodia’s dictator Pol Pot and Gilbert, “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,” he added.
Coyner, a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, responded, “Jay. Please stop.”
Jones allegedly called Coyner and told her the only way policy makers change legislation is when they “feel pain themselves, like the pain that parents feel when they watch their children die from gun violence,” Coyner told The National Review.
Then Jones said he “wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views,” and then Coyner hung up the phone.
Jones then messaged Coyner, “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
Jones issues an apology and stays in the race
Jones told CBS he had reached out to Gilbert with an apology for what he said about him and his family.
“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” he said. “I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”
President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have asked Jones to drop out of the race.
In a Truth Social post, Sunday, Trump said Jones “made SICK and DEMENTED jokes... concerning the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his wife and their children... Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY.”
Spanberger, the Democrat candidate for Virginia governor, condemned Jones’ comments on Friday, but she did not ask him to drop out of the race.
Spanberger’s connection with Jones may hurt her lead in Virginia’s gubernatorial race
With one month left before the general election, Spanberger leads by 12 percentage points ahead of Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll.
Earle-Sears has been pointing at Spanberger’s response to Jones’ text messages to try to close the gap.
“The calls for hate and violence are coming from the mouths of the Democrat Party’s leaders,” Earle-Sears said at a press conference, Saturday.
In a political ad, Earle-Sears’ team compiled footage of Spanberger on the campaign trail with Jones, urging voters to check his name on their ballots in November.
“Jay Jones dreamed of murdering two young kids and their dad over politics—and Abigail Spanberger wants him to be attorney general," Earle-Sears said, accompanying the video.
Virginia’s gubernatorial and attorney general elections are scheduled for Nov. 4.