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Democratic Party candidate for Virginia attorney general Jay Jones was pressed on accountability and asked why voters should trust his judgment following revelations of politically violent rhetoric he made in 2022 about wanting to kill his GOP rival and a reckless driving conviction that he has been accused of trying to skirt his community service requirements for.
His GOP opponent, incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, accused Jones of going 116 miles per hour on Interstate 64 in Virginia in his opening remarks of a debate Thursday night at the University of Richmond.
Miyares claimed that the day Jones went to court after getting caught for reckless driving, there were four people, including Jones, who had all been caught driving roughly the same speed. But, Miyares claimed, Jones was the only person not to receive a jail or suspended jail sentence. Miyares also claimed Jones sought to undermine his 1,000-hour community service requirement that was part of his conviction, alleging he completed the service for a political action committee he controlled.
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“I was held accountable. And, several years ago, I made very grave mistakes, but I was held accountable not just by the people in my party, but the Virginia State Police,” Jones said when asked why Virginia voters should trust his judgment.
The reckless driving criticism coincides with criticism about text messages Jones sent to someone about his Republican political rival in 2022. Jones fantasized in the text exchange about putting “two bullets” in the head of then-GOP Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. Jones also fantasized about violence against Gilbert’s children in the text exchange, which has earned him a lot of heat amid the campaign for attorney general.
“I’ve taken accountability for my mistakes, and I know that people in Virginia right now demand and deserve leaders who accept when they make mistakes and can acknowledge that and ever been held accountable. This job right now demands someone who will hold Donald Trump accountable,” Jones said when pressed by the debate moderator for a clear answer on why voters should trust his judgment.
“For the last nine months, Jason’s had 50 chances to sue the administration, to protect us, to protect our workers, to protect our health care, to protect our K-12 funding, funding for law enforcement. And his office hasn’t done a thing because he’s too weak and too scared to stand up to the president.”
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Miyares pushed back, however. He argued he has “sued both administrations,” meaning the Biden and Trump administrations. Miyares touted his record supporting veterans and their GI benefits in the courts and circled back to comments about how he has been tough on crime to “protect all Virginians.”
“Every day I work to make Virginians more safe, more prosperous. That’s been our mission,” Miyares said. “This office is an executive office. If Jay Jones wants to fight the fights in Washington, then he should run for Congress.”
Miyares frequently called Jones a “politician” and not a prosecutor throughout the debate. Miyares added that Jones was hurting Virginiains with his soft-on-crime stances, such as voting in favor of an early-release program for felons.
While lambasting Jones over his policies Thursday night, Miyares noted how one of Jones’ public safety agenda items is to protect children. He used it as an opportunity to drill down on the “two bullets” scandal that has gotten national attention.
“How can anybody who’s ever worked in any of the crimes against children — all of the areas of federal and state local law department — how can they ever take you seriously, be the top prosecutor knowing that you view the children should die to advance a political agenda?” Miyares asked.
“How can you ever say you want to represent people to think differently than you politically? Now that we know that you want to see violence against those because they have the wrong ideas.”
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