Abigail Spanberger elected first female governor of Virginia
Jay Jones, the Democrat candidate for attorney general of Virginia who garnered national attention for openly fantasizing about murdering a political opponent, has been elected.
According to results posted by NBC News on Tuesday evening, Jones defeated Republican incumbent Jason Miyares, who was elected in 2021 as the state’s first Hispanic attorney general.
With 86.4% expected votes in, Jones had approximately 52.1% of the vote, while Miyares had 47.5% of the vote.
Additionally, Democrat Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears to become the first female governor of Virginia, while Democrat state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi was elected lieutenant governor, defeating Republican challenger John Reid.
Spanberger will succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who was elected in 2021 and is ineligible to run for reelection, as Virginia prohibits governors from serving consecutive terms.
“It is the honor of my lifetime to be elected your next Governor. Tonight, you chose leadership that will always put you first — and tonight, we turned a page,” stated Spanberger regarding her historic win.
“I also know that the only way we’re going to solve these problems is by tackling them together. Democrats, Republicans, Independents — all of us — because that embodies the message we sent tonight, and that is Virginia.”
Jones garnered controversy last month when news broke that he had sent text messages in 2022 that involved fantasizing about murdering a political opponent and hoping his children would die.
National Review reported on a series of text messages Jones sent in 2022 to Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner shortly after he resigned his seat in the Virginia House of Delegates.
In the text messages, Jones talked about Virginia Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert, stating that if he had Gilbert in the same room as Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot and had only two bullets in a gun, he would shoot Gilbert twice.
“Three people, two bullets … Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot … Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones texted. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
Jones garnered outrage from Republicans across the United States, with President Donald Trump himself being among those who demanded that he suspend his campaign due to his past rhetoric.
In a post on his social media site Truth Social, Trump called Jones a “Radical Left Lunatic” and denounced the “SICK and DEMENTED jokes” made by the Democratic candidate.
“Democrat Jay Jones should drop out of the Race, IMMEDIATELY, and the People of Virginia must continue to have a GREAT Attorney General in Jason Miyares who, by the way, has my Complete and Total Endorsement,” Trump wrote.
Vice President JD Vance also weighed in on Jones’ text messages, taking to his official X account to declare that “this very deranged person” has to “drop out of the race.”
Many Democrats, including Spanberger, also denounced Jones’ comments, but few in the party called on Jones to resign.
During their one debate, Earle-Sears pressed Spanberger about her refusal to call for Jones to drop out, asking her what she would do if Jones had threatened her or her children instead.
Jones expressed remorse for his past remarks, saying in a statement shared by ABC News affiliate 8News that he apologized to Gilbert and his family for his remarks.
“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed and sorry,” stated Jones. “I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”
“Virginians deserve honest leaders who admit when they are wrong and own up to their mistakes. This was a grave mistake and I will work every day to prove to the people of Virginia that I will fight for them as Attorney General.”
Jones’ election victory, despite revelations about his violent text messages, comes less than two months after prominent conservative Christian activist Charlie Kirk was fatally shot at a TPUSA event held outdoors at Utah Valley University.
The alleged shooter, 22-year-old Tyler James Robinson, reportedly killed Kirk over his opposition to Kirk’s conservative Christian views on various issues, especially transgenderism.
Robinson was charged in the Fourth Judicial District Court of Utah County, Utah, and is facing counts that include aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury, obstruction of justice, tampering with a witness, and violent offense committed in the presence of a child.
