RICHMOND, Virginia — In the immediate aftermath of Virginia Attorney General-elect Jay Jones‘s surprising win Tuesday night, Republicans began lambasting Democrats for supporting political violence at the expense of common decency.
Jones won nearly 53% of the vote, compared to Republican incumbent Jason Miyares, who won nearly 47%, according to the Associated Press, despite the revelations that Jones sent text messages in 2022 suggesting that then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican, receive two bullets in the head.
National Republicans, including President Donald Trump, repeatedly called for Jones to exit the race, to no avail. Democrats denounced Jones’s comments but largely stood behind him as Jones went on to victory.
But now Republicans are blasting Democrats for supporting political violence in the same year in which Charlie Kirk was assassinated in broad daylight and just a year after multiple assassination attempts on Trump.
“Certainly, in a different world, that would be disqualifying for anyone who talked about murdering an opponent’s children,” Brian Seitchik, a national GOP strategist, told the Washington Examiner. “That would be disqualifying for a Republican or a Democrat to engage in such language.”
“But I believe that Democrats, many Democrats, around the country, continue to suffer from Trump derangement syndrome,” he continued, “and therefore are willing to overlook violent rhetoric, especially in the face of last year’s multiple assassination attempts directed at Donald Trump and the vicious murder of Charlie Kirk just a few weeks ago.”
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Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, blasted Jones’s win on X, claiming she was “horrified” and “disgusted.”
“Democrats just elected an Attorney General who openly fantasizes about murdering republicans and watching our children die in our arms,” she wrote on X. “How am I supposed to raise my children in a state with an attorney general who thinks these things about our family?”
Brian Kirwin, a longtime GOP strategist in Virginia, told the Washington Examiner that Jones’s victory “signifies that an overwhelming number of Democrats will vote for any Democrat regardless.”
“There was a little bit of a ticket splitting between the governor and the attorney general’s race, but it wasn’t significantly large, and I think it’s fair to say that we’ve entered a realm in politics where it’s less about issues and more about party identification,” Kirwin said.
While Jones had a roughly 6-point victory over Miyares, former Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears (R-VA) by roughly 15 points, 57.2% to 42.6%, according to the Associated Press.
Exit polls from NBC News showed Jones won 61% of the female vote while Miyares won 39%, a sign that suburban women swung back around to Democrats. Jones also won the black vote (88%), the Hispanic and Latino vote (61%), the Asian vote (77%), and the “other” racial category (63%), while Miyares only won the white vote (57%) and the male vote (55%).
Democratic voters told the Washington Examiner that they abhorred Jones’s comments but still supported his candidacy, pointing to Trump’s past controversial comments and continuing support from the GOP.
“Everyone makes mistakes,” said Nancy O’Reilly, 61, a Richmond resident, who attended a Spanberger election party Tuesday night. “He was very upfront about it. He never denied it. He never made excuses for himself. He came out and said he made a mistake, and I think his record since then spoke for himself.
“And I think most people kind of were able to give him the benefit of the doubt, because most people have said things in the past that they wish they hadn’t said. And the fact that he didn’t try to run away from it or make excuses spoke to his integrity.”
“My feeling about Jay Jones was that what he did in the text messages doesn’t have any influence on how he’s going to support us as Virginians and super double standard,” said Stair Calhoun, 73, a Fairfax resident who also attended the watch party. “I actually don’t condemn anybody who didn’t vote for him, because I understand it was a kind of a big mistake. But he’s going to lead us forward.”
Before Tuesday’s election, Jones apologized twice over the incident, first when the scandal broke, and a second time during the sole attorney general debate. During his victory speech on Tuesday, he did not mention the text messages.
“At the end of the day, this election has never been about me or my opponent,” Jones said after becoming Virginia’s first black attorney general. “It has always been about every single one of us and the future of Virginia. And this election, this victory, is for you and for every Virginian who is lying awake right now.”
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“We did it, Jay!” a supporter in the crowd shouted as Jones spoke.
Political experts suggested that Jones’s surprise win is likely due to voters wanting to rebuke Republicans over Trump’s second administration, which has led to a slashing of the federal workforce in Virginia and a government shutdown.
“I think it signals that the Democrats were willing to overlook all sorts of stuff in an effort to send a message or punish Trump,” said David Richards, a political science professor at the University of Lynchburg, about Jones. “Now, I think that’s different than condoning it. And maybe that’s just different shades of the same thing. But I think at the end of the day, they were so laser-focused on sending that message that it didn’t matter to them.”
“The reality is, they were willing to overlook his past transgressions because they wanted him to represent the state’s legal interest in the future,” Democratic strategist Brad Bannon added. “The reality is that it shows you how forgiving American voters are. Last year, they elected a guy convicted of 34 felonies to be president, and it was water under the bridge for voters.”
Sherri Robinson, 58, a Richmond resident, said she doubted the text messages contained the full truth of what Jones said.
“I believe that the things that he said is not the full truth to it,” Robinson said. “There’s some other side to that because it just don’t sound right. You know, it’s always two sides to every story.”
But Republicans dismissed the comparison to Trump as hogwash.
“Trump certainly says some things that get people excited, but he does not advocate for the murder of opponents and children,” Seitchik said. “And it is a false comparison to talk to compare Trump’s language to Mr. Jones’s.”
“The fact is, Trump derangement syndrome is real, and we’re going on a decade here, and there are intelligent, rational people who are simply blinded by their hatred of Donald Trump,” he added. “And that deep, deep hatred gives them permission to look away or to ignore violent rhetoric.”