Remember how many Democrats called in vain for the resignation of former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam when his penchant for performing in blackface was discovered in 2019? Among the most vocal was Abigail Spanberger, who then represented the Commonwealth’s 7th District in Congress. Now, as the Democratic candidate in Virginia’s 2025 gubernatorial contest, Spanberger is oddly reluctant to call for the withdrawal of her party’s vile nominee for Attorney General — Jay Jones. Evidently, musing about the murder of a GOP lawmaker is not as disturbing as a Halloween get up.

For anyone unfamiliar with this creepy story, which was first reported by National Review, it involves a series of deranged texts sent by Jones to a Republican lawmaker in August of 2022. He was somehow triggered by kind words spoken about a recently deceased Democrat colleague by Republican Todd Gilbert, then-Speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates, and other Republicans. Jones’ perverse reaction was to send a barrage of increasingly alarming texts to Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner in which he speculates about assassinating Gilbert and goes on to fantasize about desecrating his grave.

Jones reportedly continued the crazy by calling Coyner to explain that he was simply “saying the only way public policy changes is when policymakers feel pain themselves, like the pain that parents feel when they watch their children die from gun violence. He asked her to provide counterexamples to disprove his claim.” By way of illustrating his point he “suggested he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views, prompting Coyner to hang up the phone in disgust.” Incredibly, Jones subsequently reiterated his demented viewpoint in this final text exchange:

It should be obvious that Jones is not only unfit to be Virginia’s Attorney General, he is also a serious liability to Spanberger’s gubernatorial campaign. Nonetheless, her response to him was woefully inadequate: “After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted, 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.” If she believes this is going to cut it, she may well suffer the fate of Terry McAuliffe.

Spanberger’s GOP opponent in the governor’s race, Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, says this is not good enough: “Jay Jones wished death on children and fantasized about killing people. Abigail Spanberger’s response was empty — she condemned the rhetoric but stopped short of saying what any serious leader would: Jay Jones must drop out.” Earle-Sears also dropped a new ad Sunday questioning Spanberger’s fitness for office: “Jay Jones dreamed of murdering two young kids and their dad over politics — and Abigail Spanberger wants him to be attorney general.” Virginia’s current Governor, Glenn Youngkin, hit the same theme:

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 … 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.

And it gets worse for the Democrats who want to recapture Virginia. Even the Editorial Board of the Washington Post has suggested that Jay Jones should not be the Old Dominion’s AG: “Curbing the epidemic of political violence will require leaders who do not excessively inflame routine partisan conflict. But text messages that Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee for Virginia attorney general, sent to a GOP legislator, which emerged Friday afternoon, cast doubt on whether he has the temperament to become the state’s top law enforcement officer.” They do indeed. So, why doesn’t Spanberger push the “eject button”? She is afraid of her far left flank.

This is the dilemma that may well destroy the Democratic Party in the end. Just two weeks ago, we saw clear evidence that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y,) holds greater sway over the Democratic Caucus in the House of Representatives than does its duly elected leader. In Virginia, the situation is much the same. This puts Spanberger directly between Scylla and Charybdis. She doesn’t have the political chops to avoid being eaten alive by the left or drawn down into the depths of indecision. Jones may well destroy her dwindling chances either way.

READ MORE from David Catron:

Virginia’s Early Vote Favors Winsome Earle-Sears

AOC Becomes De Facto House Minority Leader

The Judicial Coup Is Collapsing

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