House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Thursday stood by the Democrat running for attorney general in Virginia, suggesting Jay Jones should remain in the race following revelations that he had mused about violence against a Republican lawmaker and his children.
Asked whether the Democrat should step aside, Jeffries signaled that Jones’s apologies for the episode were enough.
“The attorney general candidate has appropriately apologized for his remarks, and I know his remarks have been condemned across the board by Democrats in the commonwealth [of] Virginia and beyond,” Jeffries told reporters outside the Capitol. “And that’s the right thing to do.”
Jones, the Democrat seeking to unseat Virginia’s incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares (R), sent text messages in 2022 ruminating about the shooting death of former state House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R). Jones, a former member of the state House, also fantasized about urinating on the graves of former Republican colleagues.
Amid the exchange, which took place between Jones and Carrie Coyner, a Republican member of the state House, Jones seemed to promote the deaths of Gilbert’s children.
“You weren’t trying to understand,” Coyner texted. “You were talking about [hoping] jennifer Gilbert’s children would die.”
“Yes, I’ve told you this before,” Jones responded. “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”
The texts, first reported by National Review, have roiled the state races in Virginia, where former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D) has been the favorite to win the governor’s contest. Heading into the polls on Nov. 4, Republicans have made the scandal the centerpiece of their eleventh-hour campaign, demanding that Jones drop out of the race and calling on Spanberger and other top Democrats to do the same.
Jones has declined those entreaties, issuing an apology but vowing to remain in the race.
“I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” Jones said in a statement on Oct. 3. “I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”
Spanberger has condemned the remarks, saying she “spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust,” but has also declined to drop her support for him.
The controversy arrives amid a broader national conversation about political violence around the country, a debate that exploded in the wake of the shooting death of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk last month.
On Thursday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) addressed the topic, condemning a series of text messages from young Republicans that included praise for Adolf Hitler.
