Trump's GOP seizes on violent rhetoric from Virginia AG candidate as high-stakes elections loom

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republicans are seizing on recently unearthed violent rhetoric from Virginia's Democratic candidate for attorney general in a push to re-shape the state's governor's race — and tarnish the Democratic Party nationally — less than a month before Election Day.

President Donald Trump, like Republicans across Virginia, called for Democratic state attorney general candidate Jay Jones to quit the race over the weekend. The Republican president described Jones as a “radical left lunatic” and sought to link him to former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Virginia's Democratic candidate for governor.

“Abigail Spanberger, who is running for Governor, is weak and ineffective, and refuses to acknowledge what this Lunatic has done,” Trump wrote on social media.

The clash over Jones' violent rhetoric, shared in a 2022 private text message exchange published on Friday, comes just four weeks before voters in Virginia and New Jersey choose new state leaders. History suggests that the party that holds the White House — Trump's Republican Party in this case — struggles in off-year elections, but Republicans hope the scandal might tilt next month's elections in their direction.

It was too early on Monday to say what impact the evolving situation may have on the high-stakes governor's races, if any, but Democrats privately acknowledged that the scandal is at least an unwelcome distraction, in Virginia and beyond — especially as Trump escalates his campaign to cast his political opponents as violent extremists.

Experts say damage from the scandal could spread beyond Jones' race and boost what has been a lackluster campaign for Republicans.

“The plain fact is that the damage for Democrats will not be contained only to the campaign for attorney general,” said Mark J. Rozell, dean of George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.

“Between now and Election Day, the Republicans are not going to let up on this issue, nor should they. It is their opportunity now to drive much of the narrative of the campaign and take the Democratic candidates off their message," he said. “The GOP campaign overall had looked divided, uninspiring, and faltering, but now the party’s candidates have a cause to rally around.”

Spanberger's campaign did not respond Monday when asked whether Jones should leave the race. In a statement released on Friday, the Democrat said she “spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted. I made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words.”

She promised to ”always condemn violent language in our politics.”

That wasn't good enough for Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who released a new ad on Monday highlighting Spanberger's recent support for Jones.

“Jay Jones dreamed of murdering two young kids and their dad over politics—and Abigail Spanberger wants him to be attorney general,” Earle-Sears wrote in a social media post sharing the ad.

Spanberger and Earle-Sears are scheduled to face off in a debate on Thursday.

Jones has apologized repeatedly in recent days for the violent rhetoric he used in text messages he sent to a Republican lawmaker in 2022 about former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. The text exchange was published on Friday by the National Review.

In the texts, Jones wrote: “Three people two bullets ... Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot ... Gilbert gets two bullets to the head.” Pol Pot was the leader of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.

Jones did not hold elected office when he sent the messages. He had formerly served as a state legislator and stepped down in 2021, before launching his bid for state attorney general.

Trump seized on the issue over the weekend even as he continued to distance himself from Republican Earle-Sears in the governor's race. His allies have long feared that she may struggle to defeat Spanberger next month despite her strong support for Trump.

Trump ignored Earle-Sears during a Sunday rally-like speech to Navy soldiers in Virginia, even as he ticked off a list of prominent Republicans in the state. In a social media post, he went after Spanberger without naming Earle-Sears.

The comment fit a pattern of escalation from Trump, who repeatedly has cast Democratic activists as violent extremists.

In a speech to the military generals last week, Trump proposed using U.S. cities as training grounds for the armed forces and spoke of needing military might to combat what he called the “invasion from within.” He continued his rhetoric in Sunday's speech to the Navy.

“We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats,” he said.

The president has faced little, if any, Republican pushback for his rhetoric. But he and his allies lashed out at Jones and his Democratic allies on Monday.

“What does it say about Virginia when presumably millions of Democrats will go out and vote for the murder of their Republican neighbors’ children?” conservative media figure Benny Johnson asked Jones' Republican opponent, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, in a Monday interview.

Miyares said Virginians are “good and decent people," before charging that Democrats, including Spanberger" have not been held accountable for Jones' rhetoric.

“She’s still willing to campaign with him, he said of Spanberger, noting that she has not asked him to quit the race and is “perfectly happy for him to be the top prosecutor in the state.”

“That is an amazing lack of judgment,” Miyares said.