Virginia Democrat Attorney General candidate and former Del. Jay Jones fantasized in conversations with a former colleague about assassinating then-state House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican, and “wished” death upon Gilbert’s children, a new report revealed Friday.
The news comes after Republican state House Del. Kim Taylor, who is running for reelection in Virginia, said she received a death threat last week after Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger told her supporters to “let your rage fuel you.”
That kind of rhetoric has long been deployed by the assassination left to pre-justify and inspire violence against their political opponents. Pointing to left-wing violence like the assassination attempts of President Donald Trump, or the assassination of Charlie Kirk, or the attempted assassination of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Taylor noted, “violent rhetoric is not harmless–it puts real people in real danger.”
While Taylor said Spanberger tried to walk back her comments, the National Review revealed that Jones sent some dark text messages to a Republican legislator, Del. Carrie Coyner, describing the zeal with which he would apparently kill Gilbert. Jay sent the messages in August 2022, shortly after he resigned his seat in the state House of Delegates.
At the time, lawmakers like Gilbert and other Republicans were honoring the legacy of the recently passed former Del. Joe Johnson, Jr., a moderate Democrat. Jones expressed disdain for Johnson’s being a moderate, according to the outlet, and started making bizarre statements about how he might be eulogized by the Republican delegates upon his own death. Although it seems Jones “meant to send the texts to someone else” initially, “that realization didn’t stop” him from joking about what “that POS” Gilbert would say about him.
“If those guys die before me,” Jones wrote, “I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something.”
Jones then presented a hypothetical, according to the outlet, where he had only two bullets and three options to kill people: violent Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, responsible for millions of deaths; Adolf Hitler, another violent dictator responsible for millions of deaths; or Gilbert, a Republican who served in the state House for nearly 20 years.
“Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
Coyner told Jones to “Please stop,” to which Jones replied, “Lol … Ok, ok.” Coyner noted that “It really bothers me when you talk about hurting people or wishing death on them. … It isn’t ok. … No matter who they are.”
Jones called Coyner after the exchange and “doubled down,” saying that public policy would only change if those in charge feel pain, “like the pain that parents feel when they watch their children die from gun violence,” according to a source “familiar with the exchange” cited by the outlet. He also reportedly “suggested he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views, prompting Coyner to hang up the phone in disgust.”
In more text messages after she hung up, Jones claimed he was “just asking questions,” according to the outlet. Coyner “chastised [him] for ‘hopping [sic] Jennifer Gilbert’s children would die.'”
“Yes, I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy,” he wrote. “I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer [Gilbert’s wife] are evil? And that they’re breeding little fascists? Yes.”
Jones is looking to unseat current Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in this year’s election. Republican Virginia gubernatorial candidate Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears quickly called on Jones to drop out of the race on Friday, linking him with his “running mate” Spanberger.
“This is horrible to read and should be wholly disqualifying of someone running for an office that protects the people of Virginia,” Earle-Sears said in an X post. “Jay Jones’ horrific comments are a symptom of the entire Democratic Party and his running mate, Abigail Spanberger, needs to call on him to drop out.”
That is quite different from how Spanberger responded. She offered a mealy-mouthed non-condemnation of Jones’ clearly objectionable text messages, and did not rescind her endorsement of him.
“After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted,” she said in a statement reported by journalist Brandon Jarvis. “I made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words. What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next Governor of our Commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in and out of politics.”
Jones’ text messages need to be viewed in the broader context of left-wing terrorism and the current effort from the Trump administration to eradicate terrorist organizations like Antifa from the country.
Jones is looking to be the top law enforcement officer in Virginia, but his apparent penchant for political violence suggests a dark reality of hordes of violent leftists being given the legal cover to run roughshod over their, and Jones’, political enemies.
According to the National Review, Coyner said she has not spoken with Jay since the exchange “aside from a brief conversation about policy issues” and “said she sent screenshots of the conversation to Gilbert that day.” She confirmed to the National Review that “On August 8, 2022 I had a text conversation with Jay Jones, what he said was not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office.”
“Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert,” Coyner told the outlet. “It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official.”
The Federalist reached out to Jones’ campaign for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. However, Jones did react to the texts becoming public in a statement, according to Jarvis. In this statement, Jones essentially put the blame on Republicans and undermined the issue at hand without offering an apology to the Gilbert family or anyone.
“Like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics,” he said. “Let’s be clear about what is happening in the Attorney General race right now: Jason Miyares is dropping smears through Trump-controlled media organizations to assault my character and rescue his desperate campaign. This is a strategy that ensures Jason Miyares will continue to be accountable to Donald Trump, not the people of Virginia. This race is about whether Trump can control Virginia or Virginians control Virginia.”
The Republican Attorneys General Association quickly called for Jones to drop out of the race, with chairman and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach stating, “There is no place for political violence, including joking about it — especially from an elected official.”
“Jay Jones should drop out of the Attorney General’s race,” Kobach continued. “His comments are not acceptable from someone who wants to represent law enforcement.”