Dems slammed for ‘staggering’ silence after Virginia AG hopeful’s violent texts emerge

Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger, refused to call for her party’s attorney general, Jay Jones, to withdraw from the race during Thursday night’s debate. He is among many other Democrats who have refused to do so after text messages emerged in which Jones fantasized about killing his Republican colleague in 2022.

Jones, a former delegate from Norfolk, Virginia, has faced growing calls, mostly from Republicans, to drop out of the race for Virginia attorney general. But Virginia Democrats and other party leaders across the country have refused to bow to the pressure they have received to demand Jones withdraw from the party.

Jones’ text message scandal has become a flashpoint in Virginia elections, especially given that it comes at a time of increased sensitivity to inflammatory and violent political rhetoric following the Charlie Kirk assassination and two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump.

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Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., remained silent when asked repeatedly by Fox News Digital whether Jones would drop out of the race. Warner was also pressed about whether Jones would demand the return of a $25,000 donation to his campaign in August or whether he regretted that show of support in light of controversy over Jones’ violent political speech, but once again he looked away and remained silent.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., was also reluctant to ask Jones to drop out. He told Fox News Digital he’s still a supporter of the struggling candidate for his state’s attorney general seat. “I think those statements were out of character, and he apologized — I wish other people in public life would sincerely apologize, too,” the 2016 Democratic vice presidential candidate said. “I’ve known Jay Jones for 25 years.”

Several other Democrats contacted by Fox News Digital outside Virginia were similarly distant or refused to answer when asked about the Jones controversy, which revolved around Jones’ 2022 text message exchange with another lawmaker.

During the texts, Jones imagined putting “two bullets” into the head of then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. He also joked about killing Gilbert’s children.

“Three men, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Two bullets in Gilbert’s head,” Jones wrote. In a subsequent text, Jones also wrote: “Spoiler: Put Gilbert on a crew with two of the worst people you know and he takes both bullets every time.”

“Jay. Please stop,” said the legislator who took Jones’ tests at the time. Jones later apologized, calling the remarks “disgraceful and embarrassing” and saying he had personally contacted Gilbert and his family.

“I’m really not familiar with the situation in Virginia,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said when asked if Jones would leave.

“I never thought about it,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called the texts “terrible,” but when asked further about whether Jones would leave, Wyden said, “I’ll leave it at that, thank you.”

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Fox News interviewed Sen. Andy Kim, DN.J. and Martin Heinrich, D.N.M. Other Democrats condemned the political violence but admitted they were not following the Jones-related matter.

“I can’t say I did the due diligence to truly understand, but I can say that what I saw was absolutely terrifying,” Kim said. “I hope that right now, in a time when there is so much concern about political violence, we can say, ‘Yes, we have to make sure that we hold ourselves to a high standard, especially for those in elected office.'”

Republican reaction to Jones’ text scandal was starkly different. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the text messages “surprising, especially given the wave of political violence we’ve seen.”

“There are too many on the left who celebrate political violence,” Cruz continued. Charlie Kirk “He was assassinated, and we saw leftists, university professors, leftist teachers, politicians, journalists celebrating this heinous murder.”

“And every Democrat in Washington is ignoring it,” Cruz added. “In my view, the idea that someone who advocates killing children because they disagree with their father politically is clearly unfit for public office, especially Virginia’s chief of law enforcement. And I wish there was even one Democrat who would have the courage to say that publicly.”

From left to right: You. Martin Heinrich, DN.M., Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D.R.I., Sen. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. (Getty Images)

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“The call to assassinate an opponent, to have his children killed, is just sickening. I mean, I hope we can all agree that this crosses the boundaries of what’s reasonable here, and he should resign,” Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., said when asked about the controversy. “The surprising thing, though, is that I haven’t heard a single Democrat mention it; I hope you’re asking other Democrats that question. I haven’t heard anyone say anything about it, which is pretty sad.”

During a debate between Republican and Democratic candidates for governor in Virginia on Thursday night, Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears repeatedly pressured her Democratic rival, Spanberger, to call on Jones to resign.

“Jay Jones pleaded guilty to murder in the murder of a man who was a former speaker and his 2- and 5-year-old children – Abigail. You have little daughters. Is he going to have to pull the trigger? Is that what he’s going to do?” Earle-Sears asked Thursday night. “Please ask him to withdraw from the race. Have some courage.”

Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and Charles Creitz contributed to this report.