Democratic candidate for Virginia’s attorney general, Jay Jones, is facing a firestorm after a series of 2022 text messages calling for the then-statehouse speaker to get “two bullets to the head” were leaked this week.
“Three people, two bullets,” Jones said in a text to House Delegate Carrie Coyner (R) about former House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R), according to The National Review, which first reported on the correspondence Friday. Texts were later published by the Republican Attorney Generals Association.
“Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot.” Jones wrote. “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,” Jones told Coyner.
Coyner, in response, told Jones, who at the time did not hold an elected office, to stop. Jones on Friday apologized for the messages, stating he reached out to Gilbert and his family to express regret.
“I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family. Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” Jones, who is running to unseat Attorney General Jason S. Miyares (R) in November, said in a statement to NBC News.
“I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology,” he added.
Coyner confirmed the 2022 text exchange to multiple news outlets and condemned Jones, calling for him to drop out of the attorney general race.
“What he said was not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office,” Coyner told The Washington Post.
Several Virginia Democrats condemned the messages while GOP state lawmakers called on the attorney general candidate to end his campaign.
“There is no ‘gosh, I’m sorry’ here. 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,” Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) said Saturday morning on social platform X.
Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger said she spoke with Jones and expressed disgust with his texts.
“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,” Spanberger told NBC.
