Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares warned voters on the debate stage Thursday that his Democratic opponent Jay Jones’ 2022 text messages show he is unfit to serve as the state’s top prosecutor.
Mr. Jones, who is seeking to become the state’s first Black attorney general, countered that he is “embarrassed” and “ashamed.”
He said he has taken accountability for them before pivoting and accusing Mr. Miyares of failing to stand up to President Trump as he runs “roughshod over this commonwealth.”
Mr. Miyares said if Mr. Jones were truly remorseful, he would drop out of the race.
“We have seen a window into who Jay Jones is and the way he thinks of people that disagree with him,” Mr. Miyares said in his opening remarks. “Abraham Lincoln said that character is what you do in the dark when no one is watching. But now we know what he was doing in the dark.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Jones said the race is about more than his past mistakes.
“When Donald Trump fires workers, defunds our schools and levies tariffs to destroy our regional economies, sends armed troops into cities and defunds law enforcement, he has a willing cheerleader here in Jason Miyares who will not step up,” he said.
The two men squared off for 90 minutes on Thursday at the University of Richmond in their first and only scheduled debate.
Mr. Jones — and the broader Democratic ticket — has been in damage control mode since National Review revealed that Mr. Jones mused about killing then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and suggested some political good could come from the deaths of his children, who were being raised as “little fascists.”
Compounding the controversy, Mr. Jones has also been accused of suggesting that if more police officers were killed, they might shoot fewer civilians — an accusation he denies.
Mr. Jones has also faced scrutiny following a Richmond Times-Dispatch report that half of the 1,000 community service hours he was ordered to complete — after being caught driving 116 mph in a 75 mph zone — were spent working for his own political committee.
These revelations have added uncertainty to the race. Recent polling shows Mr. Miyares gaining momentum.
“I’ve taken accountability for my mistakes,” Mr. Jones said in the debate without elaborating and before attacking Mr. Miyares as a Trump stooge.
“For the last nine months, Jason’s had 50 chances to sue the administration, to protect us, to protect our workers, to protect our healthcare, to protect our K-12 funding, funding for law enforcement, and his office hasn’t done a thing because he’s too weak and too scared to stand up for the president,” he said.
Mr. Miyares, who was elected to the post in 20921, said he has followed through on his promise to be pro-law enforcement, prosecuting repeat violent offenders and overseeing a drop in homicides and drug addiction.
Mr. Miyares said Mr. Jones has never prosecuted a case in his life, and said the record he compiled as a state lawmaker shows he is “anti-police” and “anti-victim.”
“By every standard, Jay Jones did not have the experience or the judgment to serve as a top prosecutor,” he said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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