MANASSAS, Va.—Former Virginia state Delegate Jay Jones won the Nov. 4 race for Virginia’s top prosecutor, knocking off incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares.
The Associated Press called the race at 10:05 p.m. ET.
Jones won as former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) prevailed in the gubernatorial contest in the state, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Democrat Ghazala Hashmi was also elected lieutenant governor.
“Three people two bullets ... Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot ... Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones allegedly wrote.
Jones also criticized Republicans who memorialized former state legislator Joe Johnson Jr., a moderate Democrat.
“If those guys die before me,” he allegedly texted. “I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something.”
Jones, who served in the House of Delegates from 2018 to 2022, has apologized for the text messages.
“Let me be very clear: I am ashamed, I am embarrassed, and I am sorry. I am sorry to Speaker Gilbert, I am sorry to his family, and I am sorry to every single Virginian,” he said during a debate on Oct. 16.
Miyares said that Jones was unfit to be the top prosecutor in the commonwealth.
“Jay Jones is a ‘criminal first, victim last’ politician,” he said. “Jay Jones has not had the experience or the judgment to serve as the top prosecutor.”
Miyares, at the Nov. 3 rally in Manassas, Virginia, noted Jones’s lack of prosecutorial experience.
He also probed Loudoun County Public Schools after a person sexually assaulted two students at two schools.
Miyares has prioritized prosecuting violent crime, according to his campaign website.
Some voters split their ballot by voting for Democratic Spanberger and Republican Miyares.
“He just fit better with my preferences for justice and the future,” Michelle Caylor told The Epoch Times.
“I was not gonna vote for Jay Jones from the stuff that he said,” Tom Cowsert told The Epoch Times. “I just couldn’t bring myself to do it, just morally.”
Voters who spoke to The Epoch Times mostly condemned what Jones wrote about Gilbert.
“I voted for Miyares for attorney general given what happened,” Brin Pevarnik said.
Abdullah Jan voted for Jones and was unaware of the scandal until told about it by The Epoch Times. Upon learning about it, he condemned the rhetoric.
“That’s not a good statement. To be fair, you cannot choose the bullet for anyone, whether it’s your enemy or anyone,” he said.
“There is no way you can use any bullet against any person,” he continued. “I don’t agree with that statement.”
Deborah Hennig said she voted for Miyares because of his policies.
“I like that he’s tough on crime, and I think that has obviously been a good thing in the last few years. So it’s a little bit scary if he doesn’t win, to see if they’re going to be soft on crime again,” she said.
“But also, obviously, everything that happened with Jay Jones was pretty disgusting,” she continued.
On the other hand, some voters came to Jones’s defense.
“Compared to everything else that’s going on, it’s nothing,” Mary Gallagher told The Epoch Times.
“At times, we can say things that we don’t entirely mean because we’re idiots as human beings,” Moriah Kilgore told The Epoch Times. “When we stop treating people as people, we really fall deeper into that idioticness.”
“Is he going to do the action?” she rhetorically asked.
“And also, why bother wasting a bullet on a dead person?” added Kilgore. “Because if you’re saying Hitler at the end of the day, you obviously can’t do it. So it’s being facetious.”
Kilgore noted that it was a private conversation, so she didn’t care.
Charmayne Lundy, who voted for Jones, said “no comment” when asked about the controversy.
