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Published On: Fri, Oct 17th, 2025

VA Republican AG Jason Miyares to Jay Jones: “If You’re Really Sorry, You Wouldn’t Be Running”

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares at Thursday’s debate called out Democratic nominee for Attorney General Jay Jones for text messages wishing death on his political opponents and their families.

VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL JASON MIYARES: If Jay Jones wants to fight the fights in Washington, he should run for Congress, but he’s running for the wrong office. He’s asking you to hire him to be the top prosecutor, and I have to make this observation. He keeps saying that he is sorry. Jay, if you’re really sorry, you wouldn’t be running. If you really understood the ramifications of what you said about an innocent mom and her children, you know Todd Gilbert. You served with him. Jennifer would come to the General Assembly. She would bring her children. We would see them run in the hallways. They were two and five years old at the time. This wasn’t a hypothetical. This wasn’t some figure that you know from far away. You actually know Todd. This is a flesh-and-blood real husband. Jennifer is a real mom. These are real kids. How in the world could you ever show compassion and comfort a grieving mother that has ever lost a child to violence? Because Virginians, there is no cry like the cry of a mother that has lost her child. A prosecutor knows this because they’ve stood in that courtroom. Jay Jones has never understood this because he’s not a prosecutor. He’s a politician trying to save his career.

Miyares also ripped Jones in his opening message:

MIYARES: By every standard, Jay Jones does not have the experience or the judgment to serve as the top prosecutor. But now we know something else. We have seen a window to who Jay Jones is and the way he thinks of people that disagree with him. Abraham Lincoln said, the character is what you do in the dark when no one is watching. But now we know what he was doing in the dark. Jay Jones was angry at Todd Gilbert. Why? Because Todd Gilbert said kind words about a Democrat that had passed away, Joe Johnson. Jay Jones had said that he wanted to piss on the grave of his political opponents. And what did he want to do to Todd Gilbert? Two bullets to the head. Why? Because he didn’t like his politics. What’s worse? He wanted Jennifer Gilbert, a mother with two small children, ages two and five. He said that he hoped to see their children die in their arms. Why? Because in his own words, he said that pain is the only way the chain of a colleague that he hoped cops would die, because that’s also how change can occur. I’m so proud to have the endorsement of every single major law enforcement association in this state. I’m so proud to have the endorsement and over 80 plus sheriffs. And I’m asking you, Virginia, to continue to rehire me to protect you and your family, because Virginians, we deserve an attorney general who wants to represent all of us. Thank you.


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