Virginia Democratic Nominee Sidesteps Jay Jones Query Throughout Debate

[ad_1] Abigail Spanberger, Democratic candidate for Virginia governor, declined to say on Thursday whether or not she nonetheless endorsed her get together's lawyer normal hopeful, Jay Jones, who's dealing with a storm of criticism over 2022 textual content messages suggesting the previous Virginia Home speaker must be shot.

Why It Issues Together with New Jersey, Virginia, is one among solely two states holding a gubernatorial election this yr and the races are being intently watched as litmus exams of help for each events forward of subsequent yr's midterms. Democrats are hoping for a 2018-style "blue wave" subsequent yr that can assist them flip management of Congress.

Virginia has trended Democratic in current presidential elections however noticed Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin safe a slender victory in 2021, signaling the state’s battleground standing.

A brand new ballot by Emerson School on Thursday confirmed Spanberger main Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears by 10 factors in Previous Dominion's gubernatorial race. The election is about for November 4.

<img id="10857772" alt="" caption="FILE - In this Wednesday, March 4, 2020, file photo, Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk, reacts to the passage of a bill relating to electric utility rates in the gallery of the Senate during the Senate session at the Capitol, in Richmond, Va. Jones is running for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. Virginia's Democratic voters are set to pick their party’s nominees for three statewide races in the primary election on Tuesday, June 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)" captionoverride="Jay Jones, Democratic attorney general candidate in Virginia, is pictured in Richmond on March 4, 2020. | AP Photo/Steve Helber, File" credit="" sourcealt="" sources="[]" fetchpriority="auto" loading="lazy" width="3897" height="2598" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" src="color:transparent;aspect-ratio:inherit;object-fit:cover" sizes="(min-width: 1200px) 1536px, (min-width: 768px) 768px, 100vw" srcset="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=640&quality=75&webp=1 640w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=750&quality=75&webp=1 750w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=1000&quality=75&webp=1 1000w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=1200&quality=75&webp=1 1200w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=1360&quality=75&webp=1 1360w, https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1 1600w" bad-src="https://assets.newsweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AP21159607413191_06dd84.jpg?w=1600&quality=75&webp=1"/> What To Know Jones, a Democrat, faces intensifying strain to drop out of the election race after texts he as soon as despatched suggesting a former Virginia Home speaker ought to obtain "two bullets to the top” have been made public.

President Donald Trump is amongst Republicans who've referred to as on Jones to drop out of the election for lawyer normal, which can also be on November 4, over his texts despatched in 2022 that referred to as for violence in opposition to former State Home Speaker Todd Gilbert and his household.

In the one debate between the 2 candidates for governor on Thursday, Spanberger mentioned she denounced the texts however she repeatedly declined to say whether or not she would withdraw her help for Jones, saying it must be left to the voters.

“The voters now have the knowledge, and it's as much as voters to make a person alternative based mostly on this info,” she mentioned.

Pressed by the talk moderator on whether or not she endorsed Jones, Spanberger mentioned: “We're all operating our particular person races … As of now, it’s as much as each voter to make their very own particular person resolution.”

Earle-Sears additionally pressed her rival on the problem of the texts that grew to become public in current days amid new worries of political violence within the aftermath of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

“My opponent must reply about Jay Jones,” Earle-Sears mentioned.

The texts written by Jones have been first reported by Nationwide Overview and considered by The Washington Put up. Newsweek has not independently verified the messages, however Jones has not questioned their veracity and has apologized for them.

What Individuals Are Saying Trump, on Fact Social: “Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones...made SICK and DEMENTED jokes, in the event that they have been jokes in any respect, which weren't humorous, and that he wrote down and despatched round to individuals, in regards to the murdering of a Republican Legislator, his spouse, and their youngsters.”

White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt, on Monday: "I feel the president himself made his place very clear, and I feel anybody may agree, the messages that have been despatched by the Democrat nominee for lawyer normal in Virginia are actually stunning, alarming and fully unacceptable. He was threatening to kill his opponent and his opponent's youngsters, and that kind of rhetoric has zero place in our nation, and the president was completely proper to sentence that."