Jones’s win completes a trio of Democratic victories in the Old Dominion.
MANASSAS, Va.—Former Virginia state Delegate Jay Jones won the Nov. 4 race for Virginia’s top prosecutor, knocking off incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares.
The Associated Press called the race at 10:05 p.m. ET.
Jones won as former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) prevailed in the gubernatorial contest in the state, defeating Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears. Democrat Ghazala Hashmi was also elected lieutenant governor.
Jones came under fire after National Review published an explosive story about him texting Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner in 2022 and saying that if he had two bullets and had the option to use them on Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot, or former House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican, he would use both against Gilbert.
“Three people two bullets … Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot … Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones allegedly wrote.
Jones also criticized Republicans who memorialized former state legislator Joe Johnson Jr., a moderate Democrat.
“If those guys die before me,” he allegedly texted. “I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves” to “send them out awash in something.”
Jones, who served in the House of Delegates from 2018 to 2022, has apologized for the text messages.
“Let me be very clear: I am ashamed, I am embarrassed, and I am sorry. I am sorry to Speaker Gilbert, I am sorry to his family, and I am sorry to every single Virginian,” he said during a debate on Oct. 16.
Miyares said that Jones was unfit to be the top prosecutor in the commonwealth.
“Jay Jones is a ‘criminal first, victim last’ politician,” he said. “Jay Jones has not had the experience or the judgment to serve as the top prosecutor.”
Miyares, at the Nov. 3 rally in Manassas, Virginia, noted Jones’s lack of prosecutorial experience.
Most polls showed Miyares in the lead.
During his time as attorney general, Miyares won more than $1 billion in settlements from pharmaceutical companies for their alleged role in the opioid crisis, according to his campaign website.
He also probed Loudoun County Public Schools after a person sexually assaulted two students at two schools.
Miyares has prioritized prosecuting violent crime, according to his campaign website.
Jones’s platform included campaigning for abortion access, protecting civil and constitutional rights, and fighting the Trump administration.
