The candidates for Virginia attorney general will debate Thursday night in Richmond. It’s the first and last time Republican incumbent Jason Miyares is slated to debate Democratic challenger Jay Jones in person.
The debate is hosted by the Virginia State Bar and held at the University of Richmond. The 6 p.m. event is open to the public, but registration is full. You can watch the debate remotely via the University of Richmond School of Law website.
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Both candidates previously served in the House of Delegates and represented parts of Hampton Roads. Miyares represented part of Virginia Beach from 2016 to January 2022. Jones represented part of Norfolk from 2018 to January 2022. Shortly after Jones won reelection in 2021, he stepped down from the legislature, saying he was focused on spending time with family. His father, Jerrauld Jones, also previously held the seat. He died earlier this year.
Thursday’s debate will also mark the first time the two candidates have met since it became public that in 2022, Jones sent texts to a Republican colleague speculating about a hypothetical scenario involving shooting the then-Speaker of the House of Delegates. Those texts, initially published by the National Review earlier this month, have continued to haunt the Jones campaign, with statewide Republican candidates making them a focus of their campaigns. The texts dominated last week’s gubernatorial debate.
“I could certainly imagine some voters who are Democrats will say, ‘I’m going to leave the AG line blank,’” Stephen Farnsworth, a political science professor at the University of Mary Washington, said in an interview last week. “But then there will be other Democrats who say they want abortion to be legal, and they’re not interested an a pro-life attorney general and they’d vote for whoever the Democratic candidate is.”
The Virginia Public Access Project reports that more than half a million people have already voted early in the 2025 election. Election Day is Nov. 4. Over the course of an hour, Farnsworth said he expects the candidates to talk about other issues.
“But if you’re asking me, will Jay Jones’ texts be front and center in this next debate?” he said. “I think that’s a very safe bet.”
Kate Seltzer, 757-713-7881, kate.seltzer@virginiamedia.com
https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/10/15/debate-virginia-attorney-general/
