Attorney general candidates spar over text scandal, Trump administration at UR-hosted debate

Former Democrat Del. Jay Jones and Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares sparred over a series of topics at the Virginia attorney general debate Thursday, Oct. 16, including a text message scandal that scrambled the race earlier this month.

During the debate, which was held in the University of Richmond’s Camp Concert Hall, Jones attacked Miyares’s closeness to President Donald Trump, while Miyares repeatedly tore into Jones for sending a series of text messages in 2022 envisioning the deaths of former House of Delegates speaker Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) and members of his family.

In the messages, Jones texted state Del. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield) a hypothetical situation with “three people, two bullets.” Jones texted Coyner “Gilbert, hitler and pol pot,” then replying “Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.”

Jones went on to elaborate, writing “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy,” referring to the death of Gilbert’s children. 

Jones admitted to sending the texts and apologized for the remarks in his opening statement. 

“I am ashamed, I am embarrassed and I am sorry,” Jones said. “I can not take back what I said, but you have my word that I will always be accountable for my mistakes.” 

Miyares echoed a line of attack seen from Republicans statewide, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who called for Jones to drop out of the race. 

“Jay, if you’re really sorry, you wouldn’t be running,” Miyares said. “You know Todd Gilbert, you served with him.”

Last week, Republicans launched a multi-million dollar ad blitz in the state, trying to capitalize on attacking Jones and the text messages.

In the aftermath, polls have shifted heavily in Miyares’s favor. Before October, Jones consistently led Miyares by as many as seven points. Recent polls have flipped that. A poll conducted earlier this week by the Trafalgar group and Insider Advantage now shows Miyares ahead of Jones by five points.

The candidates spoke on a variety of topics, including crime rates, abortion, housing and immigration, but frequently circled back to Jones’s text scandal and Miyares’s close association with Trump. 

While Miyares often focused on his opponent’s scandal, Jones spent much of the debate attacking Miyares’s connections to the Trump administration.

“Jason Miyares can’t prosecute a case against Donald Trump,” Jones said.

Miyares said that he’s sued both the Biden and the Trump administration. In August, Miyares sued the Department of Veteran Affairs, claiming that the department failed to provide veterans with full education benefits as required by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Jones said that Miyares’s move was “respectable,” but said Miyares failed to stand up to the Trump administration elsewhere. 

“There are people in Virginia who are out of work, there are people in Virginia who are going to lose healthcare, there are communities that are going to lose funding for K-12 and law enforcement, because you haven’t stepped up to sue the president,” Jones said to Miyares.

Amid the Jones scandal and the emphasis on Trump, the race has garnered national attention since the start of October. 

Earlier this month, Trump endorsed Miyares and called for Jones to drop out of the race. 

“Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “And the People of Virginia must continue to have a GREAT Attorney General in Jason Miyares who, by the way, has my Complete and Total Endorsement — JASON WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!”

During the debate, Jones seemingly called for the prosecution of both Trump and Miyares if he is elected attorney general. 

“I will see Jason Miyares and Donald Trump in court as your attorney general,” Jones said. 

Jones did not elaborate on this remark during the debate.

State Sen. Glen Sturtevant (R-Chesterfield) was in the audience during the debate. He said Jay Jones had to come into the debate and address the text message scandal. 

“He didn’t really take responsibility for it,” Sturtevant said. “He owned up to it once he was caught, but he hasn’t really addressed, does he still think the same way?”

UR School of Law students were also in attendance, and noted the back-and-forth that kept looping back to the same topics.

“It felt very scripted,” second-year law student Hunter Conetta said.

Second-year law school student Laney Hull felt similarly.

“They were both taking advantage of a lot of things,” said Laney Hull, a second-year UR law student. “It was either Trump from Jones or the texts from Miyares, like, we will not forget their talking points that’s for sure.”

The attorney general race will coincide with the 2025 Virginia elections, which include races for governor, lieutenant governor and the Virginia House of Delegates. The election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The last day to register to vote is Friday, Oct. 24. 

Contact editor-in-chief Nick Mossman at nick.mossman@richmond.edu and writer Liam Gunawardena at liam.gunawardena@richmond.edu.