Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for attorney general of Virginia, faced condemnation from Republicans and Democrats on Friday after text messages from 2022 resurfaced in which he said he would “piss on graves” of GOP opponents and mused about hypothetically shooting then-Republican Speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert.
In a text message exchange with Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones used violent and inflammatory language, writing that if he were presented with a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of shooting Gilbert, former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler or former Cambodia dictator Pol Pot, he’d shoot Gilbert “every time,” prompting pushback from his former colleague.
“Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
Gilbert could not be reached for comment.
The content of the text messages was first reported by The National Review.
Jay Jones addresses supporters after winning the Democratic nomination for Virginia Attorney General as his wife, Mavis Jones, looks on in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 17, 2025. / Credit: Trevor Metcalfe/The Virginian-Pilot/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
In a statement to CBS News, Jones said he took full responsibility for his actions.
“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… I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology,” Jones said.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, swiftly condemned Jones’s comments.
“I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted,” Spanberger said Friday. “What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next governor of our commonwealth — I will always condemn threatening language in our politics.”
Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, also denounced the remarks.
“This is horrible to read and should be wholly disqualifying of someone running for an office that protects the people of Virginia,” Earle-Sears said in a statement. “Jay Jones’ horrific comments are a symptom of the entire Democratic Party, and his running mate, Abigail Spanberger, needs to call on him to drop out.”
Virginia has become a true battleground state in recent years. Democrats control the House of Delegates by three seats and the state Senate by two, but the Executive Mansion is occupied by Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
News of the messages reached the national level as well, with Vice President J.D. Vance calling for Jones to end his campaign.
“The Democrat candidate for AG in Virginia has been fantasizing about murdering his political opponents in private messages,” he wrote in an X post. “I’m sure the people hyperventilating about sombrero memes will join me in calling for this very deranged person to drop out of the race.”
On Sunday, President Trump called on Jones to drop out of the race immediately and offered his endorsement to Attorney General Jason Miyares.
“It has just come out that the Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones, who is running against Jason Miyares, the GREAT Attorney General in Virginia, made SICK and DEMENTED jokes, if they were jokes at all, which were not funny, and that he wrote down and sent around to people, concerning the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his wife, and their children,” Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Governor, is weak and ineffective, and refuses to acknowledge what this Lunatic has done. Even Democrats are saying it is ‘RESIGNATION FROM CAMPAIGN’ TERRITORY. 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!”
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth says National Guard is “not needed” in Chicago
Schumer says meeting between Trump, Congressional leaders is the “only way” to resolve shutdown
Johnson says GOP’s temporary government funding measure is “very simple, very conventional”
