Democrat Jay Jones wins race to be Virginia attorney general despite texts endorsing violence

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democrat Jay Jones was elected Tuesday as Virginia attorney general, riding a wave of voter dissatisfaction with the White House to overcome the revelation that in 2022 he sent widely condemned texts embracing violence against a fellow state lawmaker.

The former Virginia delegate defeated Republican incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares weeks after it emerged that Jones had texted a fellow delegate suggesting the then-House speaker should get “two bullets to the head.” Jones apologized for the private messages both in statements and at a debate in October.

“At the end of the day, this election has never been about me or my opponent,” Jones said at a campaign party. “It has always been about every single one of us and the future of Virginia.”

Jones’ victory amid the controversy could signal trouble for Republicans heading into next year’s midterm elections. He weathered the storm in part by working to shift the debate away from his character and toward President Donald Trump’s administration.

Jones campaigned against the impact of federal encroachment on Virginia since Trump took office in January — shrinking the civil service, levying tariffs and a Republican federal tax cut bill that Democrats argued imperiled the state’s health care system.

The win could soon add Virginia to the roster of Democratic-led states legally challenging actions taken by Trump.

A descendant of slaves, Jones is set to become the first Black attorney general in the former capital of the Confederacy. His victory is a landmark moment for Black Virginians in a statewide contest that was already poised to make history, with voters choosing between two women to elect the state’s first female governor.

Miyares faced a difficult political climate in his bid for reelection. 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.

And while the state has had split tickets before — meaning voters backed candidates for statewide offices from a party that differs from the elected governor — they haven’t picked an attorney general from the opposite party in 20 years.

“Listen, Virginians, politics is like a pendulum. The public’s sentiments sway one way and then the next,” Miyares said Tuesday. “Tonight, it swung a bit too far in the wrong direction, in my opinion. And folks, it will swing back.”

Republicans had hoped to persuade swing voters to reelect Miyares but faced challenging headwinds in a state with tens of thousands of federal employees.

Outrage over Jones’ text messages is unlikely to fade once Jones is sworn into office. Republicans, including Trump and Miyares, described his conduct from three years ago as disqualifying him from the attorney general’s position in 2025.

Even Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Ghazala Hashmi, the party’s candidates for governor and lieutenant governor Tuesday, had stayed silent about whether Jones still had their endorsements. Jones did, however, speak at a Spanberger campaign rally on Saturday.

Jones comes from a family of Hampton Roads politicians and civil rights pioneers. His father was also a Virginia delegate, and his grandfather was the first Black member of the Norfolk School Board. Jones previously ran for attorney general in 2021 but lost the primary to then-incumbent Mark Herring.

“My father, my mother, my uncles, my aunts endured segregation, all so that I could stand here before you today,” Jones said.

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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.