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 containing 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 the texts did not dominate the University of Richmond debate the way they did in last week’s gubernatorial debate. In texts from 2022, Jones had described a hypothetical situation involving shooting the then-Speaker of the House of Delegates.
The candidates were asked to treat the debate like a courtroom, a seeming attempt to curtail the sorts of interruptions that dominated last week’s gubernatorial debate. The themes of the night were quickly apparent: Miyares, a Republican, did repeatedly pivot to discussion of Jones’s 2022 texts and also called Jones a politician not a prosecutor. Jones, a Democrat, compared Miyares to President Donald Trump, noting the attorney general’s track record of not suing the Trump administration.
In his opening statement, 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. But after ticking off a list of accomplishments, Miyares went after Jones’s lack of experience as a prosecutor and his record as a legislator before pivoting to discussion of the 2022 texts.
“Abraham Lincoln said ‘the character is what you do in the dark when no one’s watching,’” Miyares said. “But now we know what he was doing in the dark.”
Jones got out in front of the texts early, saying in his opening statement that he deeply regretted them.
“Let me be very clear, I’m embarrassed,” he said. “And I’m sorry…I cannot take back what I said, but you have my word that I will always be accountable for my mistakes. And you also have my word, but I will spend every waking moment fighting for you.”
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The texts, and Jones’s record of speeding 116 miles per hour in 2022, dominated the first several minutes of the debate. The debate was hosted by the Virginia State Bar and moderator Brett Marston, president of the VSB, asked Jones how voters could continue to trust his judgement going forward.
“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.
Jones said he had been held accountable by the Democratic party and by Virginia State Police.
The texts have become a key talking point not just the attorney general’s race, but all state races up for election in Virginia this year. 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.
But both candidates dedicated air time to a litany of legal topics, including legal challenges to the Trump administration, consumer protection, and crime reduction efforts. Here are some of the other ground 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. He said Miyares had failed to sue Trump 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 the office advises schools, but that 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.
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.
We brought them to our knees and put them out of business because we want to keep our community safe and get guns out of our communities, not flood them, like (Miyares) and the NRA want to do.”
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?”
Role of attorney general
When asked about the role of the attorney general’s office, Jones said the office should go after federal overreach of the Trump administration, saying Miyares was too much of a coward to do so.
Jones said the office should go after utility monopolies, pharmaceutical companies and other corporations. He also touched on public safety, saying he would crack down on illegal guns and violent crime.
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
