Jay Jones’ texting scandal becomes tough loyalty test for Abigail Spanberger

Forget abortion, guns and taxes. For Virginia Democrats this fall, the new litmus test at the moment is whether they stand with or against Jay Jones.

The party’s attorney general nominee is under fire after the release of disturbing 2022 text messages in which he speculated about urinating on the graves of Republican colleagues and shooting the then-speaker of the Virginia House.

The controversy put gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger in a delicate position.

While she has publicly condemned Mr. Jones’ remarks and distanced herself from him, she has stopped short of calling for his withdrawal, leaving her vulnerable to attacks from her rival, Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.

Ms. Earle-Sears argues that Ms. Spanberger fails the leadership test if she doesn’t demand Mr. Jones call it quits.

“Abigail, when are you going to take Jay Jones and say to him, ’You must leave the race?’” Ms. Earle-Sears said at a debate last week. “He has said that he wants to murder his political opponent, and not only that, but his political opponents’ children.”

Ms. Spanberger stared straight ahead.

Mr. Jones is now a “drag on the Democratic ticket,” said Mark Rozell, a politics professor at George Mason University in Fairfax.

“The GOP ticket previously looked unfocused, uninspired and hopelessly divided,” he said. “They now have a cause to rally around to pound their opponents.

“The awkward, flat-footed responses from many leading Democrats have not helped their party in the wake of the revelations of the Jones texts.”

Mr. Jones, who is challenging Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares and is set to face him on the debate stage Thursday night in Richmond, did not attend a fundraiser over the weekend for Ms. Spanberger. The event was hosted by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe and featured former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Ms. Spanberger and the Clintons steered clear of mentioning Mr. Jones in their remarks, yet the Jones saga dominated private conversations in the room.

“Nobody was pleased with the texts,” former Virginia Rep. Jim Moran, who was in attendance, told The Washington Times, describing the Jones situation as “difficult from a number of standpoints.”

Mr. Moran said the party faithful acknowledged that with hundreds of thousands of votes already cast, it is too late to change the ticket — unless they want to hand the race to Mr. Miyares, who, in turn, could make life harder for Ms. Spanberger if she becomes the next governor.

“It is difficult to be an executive when your principal lawyer is not on board with your policies,” Mr. Moran said.

He also said there are electoral realities.

“Obviously, the African American community is a significant factor in any Democratic primary, but also any general election,” he said. “I think in assessing a ticket, there were probably a number of people who felt that having three women on the ticket wasn’t strategically helpful as having an African American male on the ticket.”

’Absolutely abhorrent’

At the fundraiser, Ms. Spanberger gave a warm acknowledgment to Ghazala Hashmi, the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, who, unlike Mr. Jones, was in the room.

Mr. Jones was also not around for Sen. Mark Warner’s annual pig roast over the weekend, where Ms. Spanberger and Ms. Hashmi mingled with supporters and posed for photos.

It is a stark change from a little over a month ago, when Ms. Spanberger and Ms. Hashmi were seen marching alongside Mr. Jones at the Buena Vista Labor Festival.

That sense of unity evaporated early this month when the National Journal revealed text messages from 2022 that Mr. Jones sent to a Republican colleague. In the texts, he mused about a hypothetical situation in which he had a gun and two bullets, and had to choose between shooting Adolf Hitler, the former Cambodian dictator Pol Pot, and then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.

“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” Mr. Jones wrote.

In the debate, Ms. Spanberger failed to put the issue to rest, dodging “yes or no” questions about whether she still supports Mr. Jones’ candidacy.

Instead, she reiterated her condemnation of his “absolutely abhorrent” texts, emphasized her focus on her own campaign and said voters would ultimately decide.

“We are all running our individual races,” she said. “As of now, it is up to every voter to make their own individual decision. I am running for governor, I am accountable for the words that I say, for the acts that I take, for the policies that I have put out.”

Paul Goldman, a Democratic strategist who chaired the party from 1990 to 1993, said Ms. Spanberger’s response was striking and unnecessary given the traditional off-year headwinds that work against the sitting president’s party.

“I have never seen the head of a ticket throw somebody overboard like that,” Mr. Goldman told The Times, arguing that all she has to do is say she is backing the Democratic ticket without mentioning Mr. Jones.

He called it a misguided calculation by Ms. Spanberger, given her double-digit lead in the polls.

To clean up the mess, Mr. Goldman said, Ms. Spanberger and other Democratic leaders should tell voters that they need Mr. Jones because the state doesn’t need a “Trump attorney general.”

“If you are a leader and you want to accomplish things, you have to put things into perspective,” Mr. Goldman said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Miyares, who has gained ground in the polls, released a new ad this week highlighting how Ms. Spanberger, in the debate, “refused to endorse Jay Jones — three times.”

The ad then turns to the debate footage where Ms. Spanberger says it is up to voters to decide Mr. Jones’ fate.

“Make your own decision,” the narrator says. “Say no to Jay Jones.”