Four of Virginia’s five Republican members of Congress issued a joint statement on Wednesday that called for Jay Jones, the Democratic candidate for attorney general, to withdraw from the race.
The lone Republican whose name was absent from the statement was Southwest Virginia’s Rep. Morgan Griffith.
“Last Friday, when I first learned of Jay Jones’ texts and comments, I issued a statement saying I found them very disturbing,” Griffith said in an email on Wednesday afternoon. “I realize that many have called for Jay Jones to step aside from his campaign for attorney general. But, as a Republican officeholder, I have long held to the belief that it is not my place to tell the Democratic Party what candidates they should nominate or ask to step aside.”
The joint statement by Virginia’s four other Republican representatives was issued in the wake of reporting Friday by The National Review, a conservative news outlet.
The article outlined a series of text messages and a phone conversation between Jones and a Republican legislator in 2022 in which Jones speculated about who he’d shoot if given the chance, wished that one of Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert’s children would die to make him reconsider his position on guns, and then said that Gilbert and his wife were “breeding little fascists.”
“Public service demands the highest standard of conduct and integrity. The newly reported violent and threatening comments made by Jay Jones are reprehensible and should disqualify him from the race for Attorney General in Virginia. Political violence and threats have no place in our democracy, and all leaders must be held to the highest standards. Our shared responsibility is to protect Virginians’ trust in their government. We urge Mr. Jones to do what is right for Virginians and for the integrity of the office by stepping aside and dropping out of the race for Attorney General,” Reps. Rob Wittman, Jen Kiggans, John McGuire and Ben Cline said in the joint statement.
Republicans from across the country, including President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, have called on Jones to step aside since the report broke.
Republican incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares stopped short of calling on his challenger to withdraw during a campaign press conference about The National Review report on Saturday.
Griffith said the lack of inclusion of his name on the Republican congressional delegation’s joint statement “does not mean the Democrats should not ask him to step aside or suspend his campaign.”
“This is a problem for the Democratic Party. They should be the ones to fix it. Their unwillingness to do so is very telling,” he added.
Virginia Democrats, including Jones’ ticketmates, have condemned his words and have urged him to take accountability for them.
To see where the statewide candidates, along with many House of Delegates and local candidates, stand on the issues, see our Voter Guide.