Can Jay Jones drop out of Virginia attorney general race after texts?
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When asked whether Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones should drop out of the race after violent text messages emerged, many Democrats either remained silent or often criticized the messages while indirectly defending Jones’ candidacy.
The situation begs the question of whether Democrats would be concerned about the idea of replacing Jones on the Democratic ticket against Republican candidate Jason Miyares, and whether that would be legally possible.
Fox News Digital asked the Commonwealth of Virginia what exactly might happen and whether Jones remains on the ballot as her scandal unfolds.
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Jay Jones, who is running to become Virginia’s attorney general in 2025, has come under fire for a series of text messages calling for the death of political opponents and remarks about police officers. (Maxine Wallace/Washington Post/Getty Images)
Unlike other states, such as Pennsylvania, where the secretary of state is the chief elections official, Virginia has its own Elections Department that oversees such operations.
An Elections Department official told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that there are three sections under the Virginia Code that govern such situations.
Under Law 24.2-612.2, candidates are allowed to withdraw from their respective races at any time, but candidates must have their names removed from the ballot within 60 days of the election.
WATCH: KAINE DEFENDS JONES AMONG AG CANDIDATE’S TEXTS PREDICTING GOP LEADER’S MURDER: ‘STILL SUPPORTIVE’
That means in Jones’ case, he has the option to bow out amid the storm, but Democrats won’t be able to officially name a new nominee to be on the ballot.
Additionally, the voting season begins much earlier in Virginia than in some other states, with voters beginning to cast their ballots as early as late September. In these ballots, the votes given to Jones still go to him even if he drops out, creating an unintended blessing for Miyares.
As of Wednesday, early vote counting in Virginia has dwarfed 2021’s returns, according to the report. Virginia Public Access Project.
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Although partisan breakdowns are not given, Democrats have historically favored mail-in and early voting over Republicans.
As of Wednesday, more than 420,000 votes had been cast in person or by mail this cycle; In the 2021 elections, this number was only 225,000.
However, if Jones leaves, the law provides relief to political parties under Virginia Code 24.2-612.1.
If a candidate withdraws after ballots are printed, each county and independent city election office is responsible for posting notices at polling places informing voters that the candidate on the ballot has withdrawn.
The pieces of paper will then be distributed at ballot boxes and inserted into mail-in ballots to alert voters to the withdrawing candidate.
If Jones had officially withdrawn, his votes would still have been counted but would not have been counted by election officials because he would have been a withdrawing candidate.
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Therefore, the Democratic Party may also put up signs ostensibly highlighting any consensus candidates they might want to replace Jones in the polls.
Write-ins are allowed in the attorney general race, so if Jones withdraws, Democrats could unite behind a new candidate and present a united front in the hope that they can garner enough votes to surpass Miyares and Jones’ tallies by season’s end and during the day.
There have been a handful of candidates who have won in Virginia in the 20th and 21st centuries. However, most of these occurred in non-competitive or low-level races.
In the contemporary era, only two candidates in competitive races whose names did not appear on the original ballot have won elections.
The most prominent of the two is Virginia Del., a libertarian-leaning conservative who won her 2019 effort after failing to file her paperwork in time to cast the official vote. Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper. He won the race with approximately 58 percent of the vote.
Freitas had previously unsuccessfully challenged Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger for her congressional seat; that seat is currently held by Rep. Yevgeny “Eugene” Vindman, D-Va.
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He also narrowly lost to former Prince William County, Virginia, Chairman of the Supervisors Corey Stewart in the 2018 GOP senate primary, 45-43. Stewart ultimately lost to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. overall 57-41.
The other written case involved Brunswick County school board member Timothy Puryear in 2023.
