A Virginia statewide race was thrown into chaos after leaked text messages revealed Attorney General nominee Jay Jones privately fantasizing about violence against Republican officials. Julia Manchester at The Hill reported that the messages, sent in 2022 and first surfaced by National Review before being circulated by the Republican Attorneys General Association, show Jones talking about “three people, two bullets,” and naming then–House Speaker Todd Gilbert alongside Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot.
The reaction was immediate: Republicans from President Trump and Vice President Vance to GOP nominee for governor Winsome Earle-Sears demanded that Jones drop out, while Attorney General Jason Miyares released an ad asking whether voters could trust Jones “to protect their children.”
What The Texts Said
According to Manchester, Jones texted GOP delegate Carrie Coyner that “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” adding, “put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.” Coyner told him to stop. Manchester also noted a National Review follow-up in which Jones allegedly mused that he wished Gilbert’s wife could see her children die to force a change in her husband’s views on gun violence.
The controversy expanded further when Virginia Scope reported Coyner’s recollection of a 2020 call in which Jones said if a few police officers died, maybe they would stop killing people – an allegation Jones denied. Whatever one’s politics, the content is brutal and, frankly, stomach-turning.
Republicans Smell An Opening
Republicans moved at breakneck speed. Manchester reported that Earle-Sears rolled out an ad tying her opponent, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, to Jones, while Miyares pressed the “protect your children” theme. Governor Glenn Youngkin, on Fox & Friends, said Jones should “resign, step down, get out of this race in disgrace,” calling the texts “beyond disqualifying.”
GOP strategist Zack Roday told Manchester the story “will motivate a whole lot of infrequent voters” and “persuade people to second guess” their priors – classic late-cycle volatility. Matt Whitlock, another Virginia-based Republican strategist, invoked the 2021 Terry McAuliffe “parents” debate moment as a parallel: Democrats tried to pretend it didn’t matter, he argued, “but it ended up shifting the entire dynamic of the race.”
Democrats’ Split Response
Spanberger condemned the rhetoric, saying she conveyed her “disgust” to Jones, but she stopped short of asking him to quit, according to Manchester. That line, condemnation without a withdrawal demand, has become the party’s default posture. Virginia Senate leaders Mamie Locke and Louise Lucas denounced the remarks yet urged voters to keep their eyes on the “stakes of this election,” explicitly standing with Jones. House Speaker Don Scott called the messages “harmful, reckless, and wrong,” urging an apology and reflection – then told a church audience not to get “distracted.”
The Virginia Beach Democratic Committee reaffirmed support for Jones with a biblical flourish: “let those without sin cast the first stone.” And Rep. Eugene Vindman posted on X encouraging voters to back Spanberger, lieutenant governor nominee Ghazala Hashmi, and Jones – an endorsement line the Congressional Leadership Fund quickly branded as proof of “how radical” Vindman is.
Silence From The Gun Control Lobby?
Ben Sanderson of Gun Owners of America took aim at a different flank: the gun-control ecosystem that has endorsed Jones. In his video, Sanderson said Jones touts backing from Brady, Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and Giffords – and claimed those groups have been “completely silent” since the leak. He condemned what he sees as a double standard: organizations that push red flag laws and bans while continuing to support a candidate who joked about shooting a Republican speaker “twice in the head.”
Sanderson argued that if these groups are serious about denouncing political violence, they should publicly retract endorsements and call on Jones to drop out. To be clear, I’m reporting Sanderson’s critique – and I think it lands. At minimum, these organizations should say where they stand now that the texts are public.
What Jones Has Said
Jones has apologized, saying he wishes he hadn’t made the remarks and would take them back if he could, Manchester reported. Apologies matter. But the content here isn’t a stray zinger; it’s sustained violent fantasizing sent to a colleague, plus a separate allegation he denies about police. That’s a high bar for contrition to clear – especially for a would-be attorney general, the official charged with deciding when words cross into crime and when power should be used with restraint. Voters can forgive; the question is whether they should.
The Narrative Battleground
Manchester noted that it’s “not very difficult to explain,” as Roday put it. That matters. In October, few narratives cut through the static. This one does, brutally. The GOP doesn’t need voters to memorize a policy analysis – they just need them to grasp the idea that a top Democrat joked about killings, and other Democrats won’t force him out. Expect Republicans to carpet the airwaves tying Spanberger and down-ballot Democrats to Jones. Whether it’s fully fair – Spanberger, for example, expressed disgust – almost doesn’t matter in a compressed news cycle. In campaigns, association is a political fact, not a philosophical one.
The Risks For Both Parties
Manchester also pointed out a danger for Republicans: Trump’s interventions can energize their base and simultaneously alienate moderates. Christopher Newport University’s polling last month showed Trump at 39 percent approval in Virginia. A heavy Trump hand could give Democrats the foil they want. But that’s a trade Republicans seem willing to make, especially if the Jones story keeps drawing oxygen from everything else. The GOP operative Manchester quoted called it “a massive turning point,” the kind of story that can pry open the split-ticket vote Republicans need.
Guns, Hypocrisy, And Standards
Sanderson’s critique hits a nerve beyond this race: the perception that gun-control groups police speech aggressively when it suits them and avert their eyes when the target is a Republican. If a GOP candidate had typed out similar “two bullets” messages about a Democrat, we all know what the news cycle would look like – and I suspect many of the same organizations would be at the front of the condemnation parade.
To be fair, endorsements are sometimes bureaucratic: boards meet, statements get drafted, everyone lawyering the language. Still, silence reads like consent. If your platform is that guns and heated rhetoric are a combustible mix, then a candidate’s violent jokes aimed at the other party should trigger the loudest alarm of all.
Polling – And Why It May Not Matter Yet
The electoral math was competitive even before the bombshell. Manchester cited a Christopher Newport University poll showing Spanberger up 12 over Earle-Sears, with 8 percent undecided, and Jones up 7 over Miyares, with 12 percent undecided. Those are sizable cushions, but undecideds in off-year statewide races are malleable – especially when a late-breaking storyline is simple and visceral. If this becomes the race’s defining frame, those “soft” voters can move hard and fast, just as Whitlock argued recalling the 2021 swing after McAuliffe’s debate line.
What Democrats Must Decide
The Hill’s reporting underscores the delicate internal politics: Jones is Black, as are senior legislative leaders publicly backing him. That makes intraparty pressure more complicated. But the principle question isn’t complicated: does a statewide Democratic ticket carry a nominee who joked about murder when they are simultaneously campaigning on de-escalation, responsible gun policy, and decency? Manchester noted Joe Scarborough’s take on MSNBC – that Jones should “probably be forced to drop out.” When even friendlier media voices say it, party leaders should at least consider what they’re asking voters to swallow.
A Story That Will Keep Growing
Manchester’s sources largely agree: this story will keep growing unless Democrats change course. Republicans will make sure of it. Earle-Sears and Miyares are already punching, and the super PACs will follow. Sanderson and Gun Owners of America will keep pounding the hypocrisy drum aimed at Brady, Everytown, Moms Demand, and Giffords until those groups speak up or back away. Spanberger has condemned the texts; whether she calls for Jones to step aside could become a litmus test for her broader leadership brand. And for Jones, the options are narrowing: hope the story burns out, or step down and stop bleeding the rest of the ticket.
A Double Standard
Julia Manchester’s reporting lays out the political stakes in vivid detail; Ben Sanderson’s critique sharpens the moral stakes for the gun-control movement. Voters don’t need pundits to decode this one. An aspiring attorney general texted about putting “two bullets” in a Republican speaker, compared him to history’s monsters, and allegedly mused about children’s deaths changing political minds.
If anti-gun groups can’t bring themselves to condemn that loudly – never mind retract endorsements – then their crusade against “dangerous rhetoric” and “gun violence” starts to look like a costume that only gets worn when the villain in the script has an R next to their name. That double standard won’t just cost them moral credibility; it might cost their party an election.
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Mark grew up in the heart of Texas, where tornadoes and extreme weather were a part of life. His early experiences sparked a fascination with emergency preparedness and homesteading. A father of three, Mark is dedicated to teaching families how to be self-sufficient, with a focus on food storage, DIY projects, and energy independence. His writing empowers everyday people to take small steps toward greater self-reliance without feeling overwhelmed.
