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Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears delivered a blistering one-two punch this weekend, saying Democrat AG candidate Jay Jones has disqualified himself from office after texts emerged in which he wished for the death of a Republican rival’s children.
The coordinated condemnations marked the most aggressive escalation yet in a controversy that has thrown Virginia politics into a fever pitch heading into the nationally watched 2025 election.
“Jay Jones has shown he’s reckless, biased, and willing to trade away his integrity,” Miyares wrote in an open letter to Virginians, posted to social media late Saturday. “This conduct is disqualifying.”
Hours later, Sears took the stage to deliver remarks and accused Democrats of being “consumed with hate.”
YOUNGKIN SAYS DEMOCRAT AG CANDIDATE JAY JONES MUST ‘STEP AWAY IN DISGRACE’ OVER TEXTS ABOUT FORMER GOP LEADER
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears speaks at a podium on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after texts from Democrat attorney general candidate Jay Jones surfaced in which he wished death on a Republican rival’s children. (Pool)
“The enemy is among us, devouring us in Virginia and in America today,” Sears said in a fiery speech. “Jay Jones fantasizes about murdered little children lying lifeless in their mother’s arms. And yet he runs for attorney general, our chief law enforcement officer.”
The uproar followed the publication of private 2022 text messages in which Jones, then a rising Democrat star, said he hoped former Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert’s children would die. When challenged, Jones doubled down, saying that such grief might be “a good thing” if it advanced his politics.
Jones has since apologized, calling the remarks “embarrassing and shameful,” and said he had reached out personally to Gilbert and his family.
VIRGINIA AG CANDIDATE ONCE REFERENCED PUTTING ‘TWO BULLETS TO THE HEAD’ OF GOP LEADER, TEXTS SHOW
