Incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares and Democratic challenger former Del. Jay Jones squared off on the debate stage Thursday night for an hour of questions that spanned Jones’ text message scandal to the Trump administration to the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
The two lawyers sparred on stage just weeks after text messages with violent rhetoric sent from Jones to a former Republican colleague three years ago resurfaced in the National Review, a conservative-leaning outlet. That story launched a firestorm from Republicans nationwide who called for Jones to drop out of the race. Miyares has called Jones’ texts “disqualifying” but has not gone so far as to call for his opponent to withdraw from the election.
Jones had been leading Miyares in the polls prior to the report. A recent poll by the Trafalgar Group showed Miyares with a slight lead going into the debate.
The attorney general’s race is likely to be the closest on the slate of statewide elections. Virginia’s off-year statewide elections are often seen as a bellwether for the coming midterm elections, and a referendum on the presidential administration.
The tight race was apparent in how the two candidates conducted themselves on the debate stage: Nearly every response by a candidate to a question from the moderator came with an attack on the other candidate.
Jones’ campaign had made an effort to link Miyares to the current Trump administration throughout the race. Miyares had focused on Jones’ voting record during his time in the General Assembly but had pivoted to focus on the National Review’s reporting about Jones’ texts when the story broke.
In his opening, Miyares focused on his work in the last three and a half years in office, including his work on Operation Ceasefire, an anti-gun violence initiative, and an effort to reduce fentanyl deaths before he pivoted to an attack on Jones and his text messages.
Jones introduced himself to the audience and focused on his background and his work as an assistant attorney general in Washington, D.C. In his opening, he attempted to preempt further attacks by Miyares about his text messages by apologizing and saying he “deeply, deeply regrets” them. He then pivoted to attack Miyares, and noted that Miyares had received an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
The debate was held at the University of Richmond in partnership with the Virginia State Bar. It was moderated by Brett Marston, president of the Virginia State Bar.
First up: texts and Trump
The first question of the night went to Jones. Marston asked him to make his case to voters: Why should they trust him in light of recent reporting about his text messages and another story that came to light about a reckless driving charge against him?
“Several years ago I made very grave mistakes but I was held accountable not just by the people in my party but by the Virginia State Police,” he said. He added that he thinks Virginians deserve leaders who know when they make mistakes and can be held accountable. He then pivoted to an attack on Miyares for what Jones asserted was his opponent’s inability to stand up to the Trump administration.
Next, Miyares was asked how he would define the line between protected and prohibited speech. He deflected the question and pivoted to an attack on Jones.
Marston asked Miyares to respond to assertions that he has aligned himself with the Trump administration over the needs of Virginians, and asked him to name a case where he put Virginians first. Miyares pointed out that he has sued both the Biden and the Trump administrations, then pivoted to another attack on Jones. Miyares added that he is focused on getting criminals off the streets and added that if Jones was sorry about his text messages, he “wouldn’t be running.”
Marston then asked Jones if he believed Miyares prioritized the Trump administration over the needs of Virginians. Jones pointed out that, although Miyares sued the current president once, federal workers have lost their jobs, funding for some K-12 education programs was halted and access to health care for others hangs in the balance. He laid the blame for that at the feet of Miyares because the incumbent had not fought the president.
Next, Miyares was asked about pressure put on the University of Virginia by the federal government to sign a federal compact that requires schools to accept Trump’s positions on issues including admissions, free speech and women’s sports, or face funding cuts.
“I’m a proud product of Virginia public schools,” Miyares said. “I went to public schools my entire career and our public universities will always be and have been protected because they are the crown jewel of the commonwealth.”
Jones, asked the same question, said he is an alumnus of the College of William and Mary and the University of Virginia and has a “vested interest” in making sure the state’s higher education program remains top notch, before pivoting to an attack on Miyares.
Crime and the Clean Economy Act
Marston asked Jones to respond to criticism from his opponent that he is “too soft” on crime and that he has supported reforms that Miyares’ campaign alleges have weakened public safety. Jones said he has always believed that his job is to keep Virginians safe, and said that when he was a child, he watched his mother work as a prosecutor of violent crimes.
When he was in the General Assembly, he voted to increase funding for law enforcement, he said, and as an assistant attorney general in Washington he took on a ghost gun manufacturer. He pointed to what he called a comprehensive public safety plan that his campaign published a couple of months ago, which includes establishing a dedicated drug trafficking unit and a dedicated child safety unit.
Marston asked Miyares to respond to assertions from critics that his “tough on crime” stance ignores racial disparities and burdens low-income Virginians. Miyares began his response with an attack on Jones. He then pointed out that law enforcement groups have endorsed him, before he pivoted to another attack on Jones and said Jones’ text messages disqualify him from serving as attorney general.
The next topic of debate was the Virginia Clean Economy Act.
Marston asked Miyares what circumstances are necessary to trigger an exception written into the act that allows utilities to petition the State Corporation Commission to raise rates if service reliability is threatened. Miyares began with an attack on Jones before saying that his office was the first to take Dominion Energy before the SCC.
“I’m the first attorney general ever to take Dominion to task,” Miyares said. “It was my office that went to the State Corporation Commission and told Dominion ‘No more. You’re not going to put $10 billion on the back of ratepayers.’ We forced them to the negotiating table.”
He added that he supports an “all the above” energy approach but reiterated his opposition to Virginia’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, calling it a tax on the working class. He did not directly answer the question about the reliability clause in the VCEA.
[Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Jones, asked the same question, said that the environment is under threat and that Dominion should be held accountable as a polluter, before he pivoted to attack Miyares. If elected, he added, he would “unleash” a consumer protection unit to protect rate payers against significant increases. He added that he plans to hold corporate polluters accountable.
“One of the biggest drivers to people’s cost increase is their energy bill and under Jason Miyares, it has gone up every month for the last three years,” Jones said. “He can’t stand up to them and he won’t. I will hold them accountable and I will make sure that we have a clean environment and we hold these corporate polluters accountable and we lower costs and deliver results here for Virginians who are feeling the squeeze.”
He said he voted in favor of Virginia joining RGGI when he was in the General Assembly, and he pointed out that Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Miyares pulled Virginia out of the initiative.
The role of lawyers
Marston asked the candidates to name the top three responsibilities of the attorney general.
Jones opened his response with an attack on Miyares. He then said the job of attorney general is to protect Virginians and to put them first, and to protect the state’s assets, resources and institutions. He said Virginia needs an attorney general who will go after corporations and make communities safer, before he pivoted to another attack on Miyares.
Miayres said the top responsibility for Virginia’s attorney general is to protect citizens. He pointed to a drop in violent crime and drug-related deaths in the state over the past three and a half years, before pivoting to an attack on Jones.
Miyares, asked how he would approach federal and state boundaries amid federal crackdowns on immigration, pointed out that he is the child of immigrant parents before pivoting to an attack on the Biden administration and its immigration record.
“Every state has become a border state,” he said, adding that his job is to go after “violent transnational gangs.” His office is working to remove undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes and who were ordered to leave the country but have not, he said.
Jones was asked if his approach would differ. He said that his office would enforce Virginia’s laws, but would also protect people’s civil rights and liberties and would ensure due process. Virginia needs to be protected from federal overreach, he said, before pivoting to an attack on Miyares. Jones added that state and local law enforcement leaders need the resources to keep their communities safe.
Marston then asked Jones how he interprets the scope of the Virginia Human Rights Act.
“I stand before you all on this stage as the descendent of slaves, the grandchild of people who endured Jim Crow, the son of people who braved segregation,” Jones said. “Civil rights is something that is in my blood. It is something that is very deep and meaningful to me.”
He said that he plans to fully staff the civil rights division in the attorney general’s office and to protect access to reproductive health care in Virginia, before he pivoted to an attack on Miyares.
Miayres was asked how his approach might differ. He said he is incredibly proud of the work the division of civil rights has done since day one. He added that his office prosecuted a housing case and secured a $750,000 verdict against a landlord for racial discrimination. He pointed to another case where his office found that Thomas Jefferson High School had discriminated against Asian American students. He then pivoted to an attack on Jones.
The last question of the night was a personal one: How do the two candidates view the role of lawyers in making a positive difference in society?
“The whole reason I’m a lawyer is because my uncle Angel Miyares got arrested during the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba,” Miyares said. “He was taken in the middle of the night with a gun to his head by Castro’s secret police. He was taken to an empty baseball stadium where he suffered the humiliation of a mock execution. Why? Because he simply had the wrong ideas about Fidel Castro. … I couldn’t understand how he could live in a society where ideas matter more than people.”
He added that his uncle’s story and the idea that everyone has individual value is what motivated him to go into law.
“I stand before you all tonight as the grandson of a civil rights attorney. Hillary Jones Sr. was born in Norfolk in 1923 and grew up in Huntersville, made his way to Virginia State. Had to go north to go to school. Used books to pass the bar exam on the first try, of which we are all incredibly proud to this day,” Jones said. “He dedicated his life to protecting people’s civil rights and civil liberties in this commonwealth.”
His father served all three branches of Virginia’s government, he said, and his mother prosecuted violent crimes.
“I know the awesome responsibility that lawyers have in Virginia to keep us safe and to protect us, to protect our civil rights and civil liberties and keep our communities as safe and secure as possible.”
For more on where the candidates stand, see our Voter Guide.
