Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones canceled a fund-raiser scheduled for Thursday night after facing backlash over past text messages in which he allegedly fantasized about shooting rival GOP lawmakers. The decision comes after mounting pressure from both Republicans and some Democrats, with opponents highlighting his inflammatory rhetoric just as the nation grapples with heightened sensitivity to political violence following recent high-profile incidents.
The canceled fundraiser suggests the Jones campaign could still be in crisis repair mode after news of his violent rhetoric, which even fellow Virginia Democrats running alongside Jones have condemned. However, those same Virginia Democrats have stopped short of calling for Jones to exit the race. The fundraiser, initially planned to be held at the home of author David Baldacci, was abruptly canceled with donors expecting to attend reportedly receiving a memo that their contributions would be refunded, according to a person familiar with the matter.
On Tuesday, in a new campaign advertisement titled ‘Two bullets,’ Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears blasted her Democrat opponent, former Virginia member of Congress from the state’s seventh congressional district, Abigail Spanberger, for failing to explicitly call for Jones to bow out of the race. The ad starts by highlighting Jones’ alleged violent rhetoric, before pivoting to Spanberger’s own comments about ‘letting your rage fuel you.’ The ad then criticizes Spanberger for continuing to support Jones, saying she stands with him, not with the Republican campaign.
Jones’ opponent, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, released his own massive $1.5 million ad buy in response to Jones’ text messages as well. The text messages, which surfaced from 2022, describe a hypothetical situation where Jones would kill three people with just two bullets, with a particular emphasis on then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. The messages included lines such as ‘Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot’ and ‘Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.’ These revelations come at a time of heightened sensitivity to inflammatory and violent political rhetoric following the assassination of Charlie Kirk and two attempted assassinations of former President Donald Trump.
Even Democrats have warned, in the wake of Kirk’s recent assassination, that ‘violent words precede violent actions’ and ‘we should have a culture of condemning any rhetoric that glorifies violence.’ Jones did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on this story, while representatives for Miyares declined to comment.