Virginia Democrat Jay Jones touts Catholicism on campaign trail amid falling poll numbers

Facing dismal polling odds two weeks after the publication of his murderous texts from 2022, Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones met with pastors Oct. 22 and touted his Catholicism.

“It was an honor to meet with pastors from across Hampton Roads this morning,” Jones posted on X. “As a Catholic, I've always drawn strength from faith and community — the same values that guide me in this campaign and in service.”

As reported by Newsweek Oct. 21, a Virginia Commonwealth University poll released that day found incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican, leading with 45% of the vote to Jones’ 42%. The same poll found Jones leading Miyares 47% to 41% in September.

As CatholicVote reported Oct. 5, the scandal currently roiling the Democratic Party in Virginia “emerged from a 2022 exchange between Jones and Virginia Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner” in which Jones stated he would shoot former Republican Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Todd Gilbert in the head.

“In the text exchange,” CatholicVote reported, “Jones mused that if he had two bullets and faced a choice between shooting then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, Adolf Hitler, or Pol Pot, Gilbert ‘gets two bullets to the head.’ Jones added that if ‘those guys die before me I will go to their funerals to p**s on their graves.’”

Jones also suggested to Coyner that he would like to see Gilbert’s children die in their mother’s arms, later explaining: “Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy.”

In the only debate between Jones and Miyares ahead of Election Day, the incumbent candidate declared Jones’ candidacy itself to be unacceptable, calling on him to drop out of the race.

“I find it a little bit stunning that today you say one of the pillars of your public safety platform is protecting children,” Miyares said. “Were you protecting Jennifer’s children, when you said you wanted to see them die in their mother’s arms?”

As CatholicVote reported after the debate, “Miyares asked how anyone in law enforcement, especially those who investigate crimes against children, could take Jones seriously as Virginia’s top prosecutor.”

“It’s unconscionable and if you were truly ‘sorry,’ you would not be running for this office,” Miyares said. “You disqualified yourself.”