RICHMOND — The candidates running for Virginia attorney general were quick during Thursday’s debate to address an issue that has threatened to be the October surprise of the election: former Del. Jay Jones’ text messages espousing violent rhetoric.
Jones apologized and said he’s taken responsibility for his actions. Incumbent Jason Miyares questioned his opponent’s judgement and suitability for the office. But discussion of the 2022 texts, in which Jones had described a hypothetical situation involving shooting the then-Speaker of the House of Delegates, did not derail the debate.
The themes of the night were quickly apparent: Miyares, a Republican, took jabs at Jones’ experience, calling him politician, not a prosecutor. He also repeatedly pivoted to discussion of Jones’ texts.
“Abraham Lincoln said ‘the character is what you do in the dark when no one’s watching,’” Miyares said in his opening statement. “But now we know what he was doing in the dark.”
Jones, a Democrat, sought to align Miyares with President Donald Trump, noting the attorney general’s track record of not suing the Trump administration.
“I was held accountable, and I think Virginians deserve leaders to understand that they made mistakes and can be held accountable, but what we have here in Virginia right now is an attorney general who won’t hold the president accountable,” Jones said.
Republicans have seized on the texts as a rallying cry against any Democrat who has not condemned Jones’ actions or called on him to step down from the race. Democrats have been selective in their direct support of Jones since then.
The candidates were asked to treat the University of Richmond debate like a courtroom, a seeming attempt to curtail the sorts of interruptions that characterized last week’s gubernatorial debate, when the text messages did take center stage. The debate was hosted by the Virginia State Bar and moderated by Brett Marston, president of the VSB.
The candidates were asked about a litany of legal topics, including legal challenges to the Trump administration, consumer protection, and crime reduction efforts. Here are four other topics they covered during the hour-long debate:
Trump administration
When asked if his loyalty to President Donald Trump came at the expense of Virginians, Miyares said he’s sued both the Trump and Biden administrations. He mentioned a case where he sued Trump’s Department of Veterans Affairs over a guarantee to full educational benefits for veterans.
But one case was not enough, Jones said, who earlier called Miyares a cheerleader for Trump and said he had missed more than 50 opportunities to sue the administration — including over the firing of federal workers and loss of health care coverage.
“I can’t wait to see Donald Trump in court,” Jones said.
The candidates were also asked about the role of the attorney general’s office in advising universities like the University of Virginia facing pressure to sign a federal compact that could reshape its policies.
Miyares said because of attorney-client privilege he could not get into specifics about what the office advises schools, but he believed in defending public schools.
“You can look at every Virginia state school, not a single school has lost a single dime in funding or in research,” he said. “You can also look at what’s happening at other schools. Harvard and Columbia have been hit with $400 million of fines, because what we do in Virginia is we protect our schools.”
Jones referenced UVA president Jim Ryan, who resigned under pressure from the Trump administration over the school’s position on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I was a law student when then-professor Jim Ryan was there, and he was revered,” Jones said. “For him to have been put in a position to make that choice is utterly despicable. The attorney general’s office is supposed to advise and support and protect our public institutions.”
Consumer protection
The candidates were asked if they would consider issuing an advisory opinion on whether utility companies can petition the State Corporation Commission for relief from the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which would require the retirement of fossil fuel plants in the commonwealth by 2050, with exceptions if reliability is threatened.
Miyares did not answer the question directly, but pivoted to boasting about a cost-sharing agreement settlement with Dominion Energy, where the utility will share the cost of its wind farm project and pay for 100% of cost overruns.
Jones also did not directly answer the question, instead criticizing Miyares for accepting campaign contributions from Dominion. Miyares’ campaign has taken $1.1 million from Dominion in 2025, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. Jones has not accepted Dominion contributions and his primary opponent Shannon Taylor was attacked by a clean energy political action committee for accepting their donations.
Jones said he would fight against rising power bills by opposing a proposed Dominion rate increase that could add $21 a month to the average power bill.
Immigration
The moderator asked Miyares how he approached the balance between federal directives and state priorities when it comes to enforcing immigration laws.
Miyares cited his experience as the child of an immigrant – his mother is from Cuba – but said he would go after what he described as violent transnational gangs and illegal immigration.
“I think it’s important for us to recognize that what we ought to do is remove illegal immigrants that have committed violent acts and broken laws and committed felonies against Virginians,” he said.
Jones said the attorney general’s office should enforce the laws, but it was important to make sure everyone was afforded due process.
“We have to protect against federal overreach,” he said. “My conversations with law enforcement across the commonwealth at both state and local level have been very clear about how they just want to do their job and don’t want to be told what to do by the federal government.”
Crime reduction
Jones was asked about his record in the General Assembly, where he served from 2018 to January of 2022. Miyares has made Jones’s votes on issues like changes to cash bail and early release policies central components of the campaign, calling Jones “soft” on crime.
Jones said as a legislator, he voted to fund law enforcement at record levels and to crack down on sex offenders and human trafficking.
“As an assistant attorney general, I took on the gun lobby,” he said, referring to his time in the DC Attorney General’s Office. “I took on the largest ghost gun manufacturer in this country.”
Jones also cited his public safety plan, which includes establishing a dedicated child safety unit.
Miyares was asked about how to ensure public safety and fairness in the justice system — according to the debate moderator, critics argue that the attorney general’s tough-on-crime stance ignores racial disparities and the burden of pre-trial detention on low-income Virginians.
In response, Miyares criticized Jones’ votes on mandatory sentence minimums and the early felon release program, which he said resulted in violent felons re-offending. Then he pivoted to to Jones’ 2022 texts.
“I find it a little bit stunning that today, you say one of the pillars of your public safety platform is protecting children,” he said. “Were you protecting Jennifer (Gilbert’s) children when you said you wanted to see them die in their mothers’ arms?”
Earlier in the debate, Miyares touted his record in the attorney general’s office, including initiatives like Operation Ceasefire and Bold Blue Line, which he said reduced the murder rate and put more police officers in the streets, respectively.
Miyares made it clear Virginians’ safety was his top priority.
“This is not a political office, this is a crime-fighting office,” he said.
Reporter Trevor Metcalfe contributed to this report.
Kate Seltzer, 757-713-7881, kate.seltzer@virginiamedia.com
