Democrat Jay Jones narrowly defeated Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) Tuesday night, becoming the Old Dominion’s first African American attorney general.
The Associated Press called the race at 10:05 p.m. with 87% of votes counted, three hours after polls closed at 7:00 p.m. Jones won even after it was revealed he sent violent text messages in 2022, suggesting former Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert receive two bullets in the head.
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Jones appeared at former Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s (D-VA) watch party on Tuesday night, where he thanked Virginians for electing him the commonwealth’s first black attorney general. He did not reference the text messaging scandal in his speech. Spanberger won the state’s gubernatorial race against Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle Sears (R) earlier in the night.
“Let me first start by thanking Jason Miyares for his service to our commonwealth in the weeks ahead. I look forward to sitting down with him to talk about where we can work together to do what’s best for this commonwealth,” Jones said in his speech.
“I know that I walk in the footsteps of those generations before me who fought and bled to guarantee the freedoms that we have in this democracy right now,” Jones said after referencing his enslaved ancestors and family members who advocated during the Civil Rights Movement. “And I know that it’s because of all of them and all of you tonight that I am honored and ready to be your next Attorney General of Virginia, the first black person bestowed with this awesome responsibility.”
Jones claimed he would never stop fighting for Virginia, telling the crowd, “I will protect our jobs, our healthcare, and our economy from [President] Donald Trump’s attacks.”
Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and other national Republicans quickly jumped on Jones’s text message scandal to call for him to exit the race.
“Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY, and the People of Virginia must continue to have a GREAT Attorney General in Jason Miyares who, by the way, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — JASON WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social in early October.
Miyares also announced he was spending $1.5 million on an ad campaign highlighting Jones’s texts in the immediate aftermath. At the sole attorney general debate, Miyares repeatedly hammered Jones over the issue.
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“Jay Jones was angry at Todd Gilbert. Why? Because Todd Gilbert said kind words about a Democrat that had passed away, Joe Johnson,” Miyares said at the debate hosted by the University of Richmond. “Jay Jones had said that he wanted to piss on the grave of his political opponents, and what did he want to do to Todd Gilbert? Two bullets to the head. Why? Because he didn’t like his politics.”
Jones apologized for the messages he sent during the debate and then quickly pivoted to linking Miyares to Trump, who had never won Virginia in the three presidential campaigns he had run.
“When Donald Trump fires workers, defunds our schools, and levies tariffs that destroy our regional economies, sends armed troops into cities, and defunds law enforcement, he has a willing cheerleader here in Jason Miyares who will not step up to sue,” Jones said.
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The revelation of the text messages jolted the Virginia off-year elections that many political pundits thought Democrats were set to sweep.
Polling showed the race between Miyares and Jones had narrowed after the scandal broke, putting Democrats on edge that the Virginia elections would result in a split ticket.
