Virginia Democrat attorney general hopeful Jay Jones is being pressured to drop out of the race after text messages revealed he apparently fantasized about a Republican lawmaker being fatally shot.
In a social media post on Saturday, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) called out Jones for the text messages he is accused of sending in 2022 that showed him wishing a now former state House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his children would be killed, the New York Post reported.
“This violent, disgusting rhetoric targeted at an elected official and his children is beyond disqualifying. Jay Jones said that ‘Gilbert gets two bullets to the head’ and then hoped his children would die,” Youngkin wrote.
“Read those words again. 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,” the governor added:
After the texts were revealed, the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA) called on Jones to immediately withdraw his candidacy, according to Breitbart News.
In addition, Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson are also calling on Jones to step out of the race, the outlet reported on Saturday.
Johnson stated, “There is no conceivable justification for wishing violence against a political opponent and their children.”
In her comments on the Jones issue, Virginia’s Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running against Democrat Abigail Spanberger for governor, said, “The calls for hate and violence are coming from the mouths of the Democrat Party’s leaders, and Jay Jones is just the most recent, and his wish for violent acts the most clear.”
“So if you can’t solve a problem, you can’t name it. But I will. And here and now, the leadership of the Democrat Party has become consumed with hate,” she added:
Jones has since claimed he was “deeply” sorry for what he said and wished he could take back his words.
The news about Jones comes after President Donald Trump was the target of two failed assassination attempts while running for the White House against then Vice President Kamala Harris (D) in 2024. The violence did not end, however, because Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who was a devout Christian and champion of free speech, was assassinated on September 10 while speaking at Utah Valley University.
Kirk’s violent death shocked the world and millions have mourned his loss.
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