“Virginia voters proved in the 2023 elections that the gun violence prevention movement is strong,” wrote the gun-control group that this year gave $200,000 to attorney general-candidate Jay Jones, who is now under criticism for a text about “bullets to the head” of a state politician.
Everytown for Gun Safety endorsed Jones, a Democrat challenging Republican incumbent Jason Miyares, in June and gave him six-figures for his campaign. After news broke of the text Jones sent in 2022, the group removed the press release with his endorsement.
Two months ago, Jones announced his own gun-safety initiative. Now, voters are left to wonder if he’s fit to hold office and whether Everytown will support him in the month until Election Day.
In the 2022 text message exchange with Republican state Delegate Carrie Coyner reported by The National Review, Jones complained how then-Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert was honoring Joe Johnson Jr., a moderate Democratic lawmaker who had died.
“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” the text reads, referring to Gilbert and the two dictators. The National Review also reported Jones tried to call Coyner after she had objected to the message and went on to text that Gilbert and his wife were “breeding little fascists.”
Everytown for Gun Safety has lamented Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s vetoes of gun-control measures passed by legislators in recent years. The group said voters had flipped the House of Representatives to a “gun-sense majority,” with nine volunteers from one of its affiliate groups, Moms Demand Action, being elected.
It had conducted polling in 2023 showing that more than 80% of battleground-area voters felt a candidate’s stance on gun violence was highly important, and the big majority of them supported strengthening gun laws.
“Last fall, Virginia voters made it clear that they want their leaders to enact and strengthen gun safety laws, and they elected the candidates they knew would fight for safer communities,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action.
Everytown is spending $1 million on advertising to elect Virginia gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger.
“When commonsense legislation comes to my desk that keeps Virginia families safe from gun violence, Virginians can trust that — unlike our current Governor — I will actually sign it into law,” Spanberger said.
Everytown is one of Jones’ biggest donors. His largest, the Democratic Attorneys General Association, has given $1.1 million and told Legal Newsline that it will not pull its support of Jones.
Sean Rankin, president of DAGA, said Jones is remorseful.
“I have spoken with Jay and expressed my outrage for him losing his temper and making reckless and unacceptable comments,” the DAGA president said October 7, five days after the news broke about Jones’ texts. “He has taken responsibility for what he said and apologized to the former Speaker and Virginians.”
The Republican Attorneys General Association has called on DAGA to withdraw its political and financial support of Jones’ campaign. It also launched a petition to demand Jones withdraw from the race.
His opponent Miyares is set to debut a $1.5 million ad campaign focusing on Jones’ texts. RAGA called the texts “abhorrent.”
“Jay Jones said if any of the Republicans who were reaching across the aisle died before him, he would ‘go to their funerals to piss on their graves.’ Jay Jones said the Republican Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates is worse than two murderous dictators, Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot,” RAGA said.
“He also said that he hoped the Speaker’s wife would watch her own children die in her arms and further justified his comments about murder because he believed the speaker was raising ‘little fascists.’”
RAGA and DAGA are sparring over whether the backlash to Jones’ texts is hypocritical. Polling conducted by RAGA showed Jones’ four-point lead before the texts were reported has since turned into an advantage for Miyares.
Since 1994, Virginia has elected just one Democrat as attorney general – Mark Herring, who served from 2014-2022.
