Virginia Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones had a rough weekend. Texts from 2022 revealed a man who seems to have a penchant for wanting to have his political rivals killed. He certainly was explicit in wanting former State House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his family dead. Why Jones, then a state legislator at the time, texted this to a Republican colleague is equally baffling. This outburst occurred in August 2022, when Virginia Democrat Joe Johnson, Jr. passed away. Jones was not pleased with the tributes about Johnson, who was viewed as decidedly moderate throughout his career in public life.
That story was rightly brought up by former Trump White House Director of Legislative Affairs and Pence Chief of Staff Marc Short, who torched the Democrats for their pearl-clutching over the sombrero memes, which are a joke. Short was on Meet the Press discussing the ongoing government shutdown, where Democrats are holding up the works until they get $1.5 trillion for illegal alien health care. Short couldn’t believe there wasn’t a single national Democrat calling for him to step aside after calling for the assassination of Republicans. Former Biden operative Neera Tanden rebutted, calling them “private conversations.”
BONKERS. Neera Tanden excuses Virginia Democrat AG candidate Jay Jones calling for the assassination of a Republican leader and his kids as just merely just a “private conversation.”
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 5, 2025
Utterly disgraceful. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
pic.twitter.com/N5KEyFZHPU
She tries to 'both sides' it, too.
Jones was texting one Republican about how he wanted to murder a different Republican and his children. He was called out on this evil & doubled down. Private conversations are often more revealing than public political speak. https://t.co/wrgiUTJXEQ
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 5, 2025
I can’t believe this is even a discussion.
— Alexa Henning (@alexahenning) October 5, 2025
Calling for the assassination of a GOP leader and his children should be immediately disqualifying.
Tells you that the Democrats don’t have a problem with what Jay Jones said, just that it got exposed. https://t.co/llm91DIiFb
This is why Charlie Kirk died. Do not let this go. https://t.co/GVV3qMpa7U
— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) October 5, 2025
Jones also said he hoped pain would befall those with whom he disagreed, since that’s the only way things will change, even going so far as to hope Gilbert’s children would die from gunshot wounds so he’d change his stance on gun control.