It turns out that driving 116 mph down Interstate 64 may not be the worst thing Jay Jones has done.
For anyone who’s been disconnected from the news for a few hours, the National Review — a conservative publication — published a series of text messages that Jones sent to a Republican legislator in 2022 in which he speculated about who he’d shoot if given the chance, wished that one of House Speaker Todd Gilbert’s children would die to make the Republican reconsider his position on guns, and then said that Gilbert and his wife were “breeding little fascists.”
You can read this extraordinary series of text messages here. Since then, both Abigail Spanberger and Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, have issued statements rebuking Jones, now the party’s candidate for attorney general. Jones initially put out a statement saying “Like all people, I’ve sent text messages that I regret and I believe that violent rhetoric has no place in our politics” and then blamed his Republican opponent — Attorney General Jason Miyares — for causing the texts to be leaked. “Dropping smears,” he called them, although I’ve always been inclined to think of a “smear” as something that wasn’t true or was wildly distorted, not a verbatim account of what someone actually communicated. (Update: Jones later issued a second statement, in which he called his texts “a grave mistake.”)
What set off all this has a Southwest Virginia angle: the death in 2022 of former Del. Joe Johnson, an old-school Democrat from Abingdon.
The National Review described the initial texts this way: “Jones derided Johnson’s political centrism and scoffed at the ‘glowing’ tributes that were being made in his honor by Republicans in the wake of his death.”
The exact words went like this, according to screenshots released by the publication:
Jones: “Talking about Joe Johnson. A D but basically a R. Leaked everything to your caucus. It’s why Gilbert gave him such a glowing tribute.”
Others will rightly focus on Jones’ other words, so I see no need to duplicate them. Instead, what I see is a Democratic candidate for statewide office disparaging a now-departed Democrat from Southwest Virginia — one who was a beloved figure in the community. See the tribute I wrote about Johnson when he died at age 90; one of the stories that came out then was about how he personally paid the tuition for many students at Virginia Highlands Community College. When Johnson died, one Democratic legislator from Northern Virginia described him as “Mr. Southwest.” That seems an apt description. Johnson was not particularly ideological, at least in the modern sense, but he was devoted to his part of the state. That’s why he was elected 11 times without opposition even as the district he represented became more and more Republican.
Yes, Johnson was a much more moderate figure than other Democrats in Richmond, but if Jones or any other Democrat cannot appreciate why, then it’s a sign that they really don’t understand Southwest Virginia.
Statement from Jay Jones
“I take full responsibility for my actions, and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family. 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. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.
“Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong and own up to their mistakes. This was a grave mistake and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as Attorney General.”
That seems a problem — maybe a different type of problem than Jones’ texts where he fantasized about shooting the speaker of the House, but a problem nonetheless.
This is one of the reasons why Democrats can no longer win in Southwest Virginia. Many of them either don’t understand it or don’t want to understand it.
Since Johnson retired after the 2013 election, no other Democrat has been elected to Richmond from any part of Southwest Virginia west of the New River Valley — and realistically none will unless they emulate the centrist politics that Johnson practiced and which Jones disdains as making Johnson “basically a R.”
Southwest Virginia is not a liberal place. It wasn’t a liberal place even when Democrats were winning there, but those Democrats found ways to connect with voters anyway. Social issues weren’t as paramount then, which allowed Democrats to win on economic issues — or simply a family tradition of voting Democratic that has now faded away. If, by some political miracle, a Democrat were to win in Southwest Virginia today, it wouldn’t be a Democrat who fits what Jones apparently sees as the model for a Democrat. It would be someone much closer to the political center, someone who would take positions that Democrats from the urban crescent would not. Someone like, well, Johnson.
Democrats today don’t really need to elect legislators from Southwest Virginia, or rural areas in general. They have a bare majority in the House now without a single rural legislator and hope to add more in this year’s election. Population shifts, and new district lines in the coming years will add more legislators from the urban crescent — and take them away from rural areas. However, if Democrats truly wanted some rural legislators, they’d have to put up with some maverick legislators who — to represent their constituents — would have to deviate from the party line more than Jones apparently can tolerate.
Jones has issued his statement of regret and will try to move on. Republicans won’t let him; they see this as something that might be fatal to Jones’ candidacy. We’ll see now what voters think — although nearly 300,000 votes have already been cast. This kind of revelation is one of the hazards of early voting. Jones won’t withdraw; voting is underway and it’s too late to replace him on the ballot anyway. Maybe he’ll issue a more fulsome apology for his words without trying to divert things to his opponent; House Speaker Don Scott has called on him to make one. (Update: Since this was first posted, he has done so.) Still, his derision of Johnson remains. Whatever more Jones has to say about his texts, he still owes another apology — to the legacy of “Mr. Southwest.”
He could even go to Abingdon to do that in person.
What the other statewide candidates have said
Abigail Spanberger, Democratic candidate for governor:
“After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted. 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 our politics.”
Winsome Earle-Sears, Republican candidate for governor:
“Jay Jones wished death on children and fantasized about killing people. Abigail Spanberger’s response was empty — she condemned the rhetoric but stopped short of saying what any serious leader would: Jay Jones must drop out. Her response is simply not good enough.”
Ghazala Hashmi, Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor:
“I have been very clear that political violence has no place in our country, and I condemn it at every turn. Jay must take accountability for the pain that his words have caused. We must demand better of our leaders and of each other.”
John Reid, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor:
“Outrageous! The Democrat leaders talk about violence very easily and their most rabid supporters commit it regularly. It all has to stop. Do not vote for these people.”
No statements yet from Jones’ opponent, Attorney General Jason Miyares.
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