Vice President JD Vance joined the chorus of elected officials calling on Jay Jones, the Democratic Party nominee for attorney general of Virginia, to step aside after a number of disturbing, violent text messages resurfaced.
Jones, who previously served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, sent a series of disturbing text messages to a former colleague in which he suggested the state’s then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert should be shot and killed. “If those guys die before me… I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves,” Jones, who served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, wrote in one of the 2022 messages to a former colleague.
“Three people, two bullets,” the nominee continued despite objections from the colleague. “Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot… Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote, adding, “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
The messages, which were first reported on by National Review, were sent by Jones at around 8 a.m., on August 8, 2022, to Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner, who was clearly disturbed by the messages. Coyner pushed back by expressing concern with Jones’ rhetoric, though he was undeterred.
Jones then called Coyner and doubled down on the violent rhetoric over the phone, the National Review reported. “You weren’t trying to understand,” Coyner wrote after she reportedly hung up the phone. “You were talking about hopping [sic] jennifer Gilbert’s children would die.”
The Democrat nominee was undistributed, responding with, “Yes, I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
Jones then directed his violent rhetoric towards Gilbert’s children. “I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they’re breeding little fascists? Yes,” he went on.
The disturbing messages were shared with the ‘National Review’
A number of prominent Republicans have called on Jones to step aside, including Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin. “This violent, disgusting rhetoric targeted at an elected official and his children is beyond disqualifying,” the governor posted on X.
“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.”
Vice President Vance did the same in an X post of his own. “The Democrat candidate for AG in Virginia has been fantasizing about murdering his political opponents in private messages. 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,” he said.
“Let’s be clear about what is happening in the Attorney General race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign,” he added. “This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia.”
In a follow-up statement, Jones claimed that he has reached out to apologize to Gilbert and his wife, stating that he made a “grave mistake.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions, and 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,” the Democrat nominee wrote.
“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,” he added.
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