Overview

• Republicans including President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Gov. Glenn Youngkin urged Jay Jones to leave the race, with Trump endorsing incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares.
• Jason Miyares launched a roughly $1.5 million ad campaign centered on the leaked 2022 texts, intensifying the contest as early voting continues.
• Leading Virginia Democrats criticized Jones’s language but have not broadly called for his removal, while some local party committees publicly reaffirmed support and Sen. Tim Kaine said he still backs Jones.
• The messages, sent to GOP Del. Carrie Coyner in 2022, included the line that Todd Gilbert would get “two bullets to the head” and disparaged his children; the texts were first reported by National Review and confirmed by The Washington Post and Axios.
• Jones has apologized and said he contacted Gilbert, yet pressure grew with a Virginia Fraternal Order of Police letter urging him to withdraw and media figures such as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough calling for him to step aside.