The Democratic nominee in the Virginia Attorney General’s race is on the defensive after text messages sent in 2022 were revealed, showing Jay Jones fantasizing about the murders of a state GOP lawmaker and his children.

Jones has received considerable backlash from Republicans over texts in which he said that he’d like to give then-House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert “two bullets to the head.”

Jones also suggested that Gilbert might change his position on gun control if he were to witness the murder of his own children.

While Jones has since offered a public apology to Gilbert for his comments, saying he takes “full responsibility for my actions,” and adding,  “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed and sorry.”

“I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer, and their children,” Jones wrote, “I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”

Jones also faced harsh criticism over comments made in a 2020 conversation about removing qualified immunity from police in which Del. Carrie Coyner warned Jones that, without legal protection, police officers would get killed.

Coyner said that Jones responded, saying, ‘Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people.’

Legacy media has spent little time focusing on Jones’ comments although prominent Virginia Democrats have pledged their support to Jones while offering tepid condemnations of violent political language.

Incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares questioned Jones’ fitness for office, telling reporters, “You have to be coming from an incredibly dark place to say what you said. Not by a stranger. By a colleague. Somebody you had served with. Someone you have worked with.”

Calls for Jones to drop out of the Virginia AG’s race have intensified as his comments were made public.

Jones has given no indication that he’ll abandon his bid for Attorney General, although his campaign canceled a Virginia fundraiser scheduled for Thursday, raising questions about his ability to move forward from the scandal.