Virginia Democrats criticize AG candidate Jay Jones for violent texts but aren’t demanding he quit race

By Eva McKend, Arit John, CNN

(CNN) — Top Virginia Democrats have sharply criticized attorney general nominee Jay Jones but are stopping short of calling on him to leave the race after newly revealed text messages showed he suggested that a colleague be shot.

Gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger and lieutenant governor nominee Ghazala Hashmi called Jones’ texts inexcusable, as did Virginia’s two Democratic senators.

US Sen. Tim Kaine was asked Monday by CNN’s Manu Raju if he still supports Jones, who apologized after the texts were revealed. “I do,” Kaine responded.

“The comments are completely indefensible. I’ve known Jay Jones for 25 years, and those comments are very much out of character for him. So if I put the comments, which are clearly beyond the pale, against knowing this guy for 25 years, I’m still supporting Jay Jones,” he said.

The decision to scold but not abandon Jones speaks to the party’s overall desire to beat a prominent state-level incumbent – and, as some Democrats said Monday, a belief that President Donald Trump has changed traditional standards of decorum. Jones is running against Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, whom Trump has backed for reelection.

It also points to political reality. Early voting began in Virginia late last month, and it’s too late to remove a name or add a replacement to the physical ballot, Brian Tynes, a spokesman for the state Department of Elections, told CNN in an email.

Republicans seeing GOP gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears trailing Spanberger are hoping to hold onto Miyares’ office and energize other campaigns. Miyares announced Monday that his campaign is spending $1.5 million on a pair of ads highlighting Jones’ texts and a previous reckless driving charge.

“The Democratic Party has to make this decision,” Miyares said when CNN’s Kasie Hunt asked him if Jones should drop out. “Think about this: If somebody was applying to be a line attorney in the attorney general’s office or a criminal deputy or even serving in a governor’s cabinet, and it turned out these messages came out, they would not be hired.”

In a private exchange between Jones and Republican Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones griped about how the then-Republican speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert was paying tribute to a former moderate Democratic lawmaker who died, according to screenshots of text messages first reported by the National Review and obtained by CNN.

“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” the text reads in part, referring to Gilbert and the two dictators.

The National Review reported that Jones tried to call Coyner after she objected to his language. He went on to say in the text messages that Gilbert and his wife are “breeding little fascists” in reference to Gilbert’s children, the National Review reported.

Republicans were heavily invested in Miyares before the current news cycle. The incumbent raised $11.2 million for his reelection bid between January 1 and August 31, including $4 million from the Republican Attorney General Association, according to campaign finance data from the Virginia Public Access Project.

Jones raised just $8 million over the same period, including $2.1 million from the committee that backs Democratic attorney general candidates.

A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted September 25-29, before Jones texts were revealed, showed the Democrat leading Miyares by just 6 percentage points, within the margin of error. Spanberger led Earle-Sears by 12 points in the same poll.

The Jones text controversy comes as Republicans are attempting to portray Democrats as extremists in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination last month.

Democrats have pushed back on that framing, noting the president’s own past suggestions of responding to political opponents and protesters with violence.

Virginia state Sen. Angelia Williams Graves, a longtime Jones ally, said she condemns political violence and that both sides need to tone down their rhetoric. But she argued Republican calls for Jones to drop out were hypocritical.

“Donald Trump said he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot anybody and still be elected. And guess what? He said it, and he still got elected,” Graves said. “But because I stand behind somebody I’ve known all his life, there’s something wrong with that? He’s the Democratic nominee. There was a process.”

And the Virginia Beach Democratic Committee issued a statement saying it was “lined up, ten toes down—ready to organize, mobilize, and deliver voters for Jay and our entire Democratic ticket.”

“Recent press may have spotlighted past mistakes. We say, let those without sin cast the first stone. Jay Jones has taken responsibility, apologized, and shown he is committed to serving with integrity and accountability that his public record already shows,” the statement added.

Democrats view the contest as part of a larger effort to push back on controversial Trump policies, arguing that a Democratic attorney general would join colleagues in other states to block Trump policies they deem harmful.

For some Democrats, the possibility of depriving the president of an ally in the state is enough to overcome their revulsion with Jones’ comments – at least for now.

Chris Graham, the editor of the Augusta Free Press, a progressive news outlet located in a conservative part of the state, endorsed Jones in the June primary in which the candidate narrowly defeated Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor.

Now, he’s conflicted. Miyares, Graham said, would be a “rubber stamp” for the president. But he is uncomfortable with Jones, arguing he not only sent the texts but decided to run for office knowing the messages could hurt Democrats’ chances of flipping the seat.

Last week Graham wrote a column calling on Jones to drop out “immediately, if not sooner.” Still, he plans to vote for Jones and hope he gets replaced after the election.

“I would not have endorsed him, and I’m sure lots of other folks wouldn’t have voted for him, if we had known that those texts were out there,” Graham said.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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CNN’s Ethan Cohen, Alison Main and Maria Moctezuma contributed to this report.