Tipsheet

These Texts From VA's Dem AG Candidate Are Totally Insane

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  October 03, 2025 10:00 PM

Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general had a classic ‘rules for thee, but not for me’ moment in 2022. Jay Jones, a former Virginia state House member, decided he really wanted to let it rip on Interstate 64, being pulled over by state police who clocked him doing 116 mph in a 70 mph zone. How he wasn’t hauled off to jail during this stop is beyond me. Often, in this state, it’s straight to jail. As someone who's been slapped with reckless driving, because in New Jersey, 65 means 80, I had to go through many a seminar on how weak sauce this state’s traffic laws are. Yet, this doesn’t compare to how he spoke about his Republican colleagues in Richmond, with new text showing the AG candidate wished death upon Republicans.

In Virginia, if you’re caught driving 20 miles over the speed limit or 80 miles per hour, it’s a reckless driving summons, which is a third-degree misdemeanor if convicted. It also carries a potential penalty of up to a year in jail. Jones tried multiple times for a deferred judgment, which was granted on the fourth attempt. He paid a $1,500 fine and completed 1,000 hours of community service, half of which were spent on activities with his own political action committee. It must be nice, since anyone else would be in jail (via Richmond Times-Dispatch): 

A year after Jay Jones' first run for attorney general, a Virginia state trooper clocked him speeding on Interstate 64 at 116 miles per hour — 46 over the speed limit — resulting in a reckless driving conviction in New Kent County. 

Court records show that Jones, now Virginia’s Democratic nominee for attorney general, was pulled over by the state trooper at 12:55 a.m. on Jan. 21, 2022, three weeks after he had quit his job as a state delegate representing Norfolk. 

[…] 

Under Virginia law, a reckless driving conviction can result in up to one year in jail. Jones’ attorney sought to defer the case four times before the General District Court system reports the case changed to “deferred disposition,” meaning there was an agreement to avoid potential jail time in exchange for doing community service.

Jones paid a $1,500 fine. 

Documents from Jones’ attorney show that Jones completed 1,000 hours of community service in 2023 — 500 of which were for Jones’ own political action committee, called Meet Our Moment. The PAC is registered with the Virginia Board of Elections and is not a nonprofit charitable organization. 

So, he got a cupcake deal, but what about wishing death on State House Speaker Todd Gilbert? Yeah, in a series of texts, Jones pretty much hopes his enemies feel pain since that’s the only way change can happen. It’s insane. This outburst occurred in August 2022 when a moderate Virginia Democrat, Joe Johnson, Jr., passed away. Jones was not fond of Johnson, scoffed at the tributes, and seemed like an all-around unstable personality (via NRO):

Around 8 a.m., [on Aug 8, 2022] Jones shared those feelings with his former state legislative colleague, Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner. In a series of text messages obtained by National Review, Jones derided Johnson’s political centrism and scoffed at the “glowing” tributes that were being made in his honor by Republicans in the wake of his death.

“Damn that was for mark,” he wrote to Coyner, suggesting he’d meant to send the texts to someone else. And yet that realization didn’t stop Jones from joking about what “that POS” Gilbert “would say about me if I died.” 

“If those guys die before me,” Jones wrote, referencing the Republican colleagues who were publicly honoring the deceased Johnson’s memory, “I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something.” 

Jones then suggested that, presented with a hypothetical situation in which he had only two bullets and was faced with the choice of murdering then-Speaker of the House Todd Gilbert or two dictators, he’d shoot Gilbert “every time,” prompting pushback from his former colleague… 

[…] 

Asked about the years-old text exchange, Coyner condemned Jones’s rhetoric and said she sent screenshots of the conversation to Gilbert that day. She said she and Jones haven’t spoken since, aside from a brief conversation about policy issues. “On August 8, 2022 I had a text conversation with Jay Jones, what he said was not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office,” she told NR in a statement. “Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting Todd Gilbert. It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official.” 

[…]

Coyner’s alarm at her former colleague’s violent rhetoric toward Gilbert prompted Jones to call her and explain his reasoning over the phone, a source familiar with the exchange told NR.

According to the source, the Democratic former legislator doubled down on the call, saying the only way public policy changes is when policymakers feel pain themselves, like the pain that parents feel when they watch their children die from gun violence. He asked her to provide counterexamples to disprove his claim. 

Then at one point, the source said, he suggested he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own child die in her arms so that Gilbert might reconsider his political views, prompting Coyner to hang up the phone in disgust.

In other words, Jay fits perfectly with the current Democratic Party, which has a propensity for political violence. And some in liberal America still wonder how someone could shoot Charlie Kirk or attack an ICE facility in Dallas, Texas. This party has a problem. Maybe the reason they didn’t want to discuss mental health provisions vis-à-vis gun control is because they knew they had sickos in their ranks.

What a lunatic, and this guy will be the top state law enforcement authority. Also, Jones, NRO, is not Trump-controlled. Try again, kid.

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UPDATE: Jones has issued a full apology to Todd Gilbert and his family.