Politics
Less Than Half Of VA Voters Found Jay Jones’ Texts To Be Disqualifying, Shock Exit Poll Finds
A disturbing exit poll from Fox News found that less than half of Virginia voters found the murderous text messages sent by Attorney General-elect Jay Jones — in which he threatened to kill his political opponents and their children — were disqualifying.
With 96.4 percent of precincts reporting, Jones is currently garnering 52.7 percent of the vote to Republican incumbent Jason Miyares’ 46.9 percent, enough for a shocking upset that was called a little more than two hours after polls closed on Tuesday. The result constitutes a surprising upset, as Miyares had surged ahead in the polls following the emergence of Jones’ disturbing messages back in early October.
In a series of disturbing text messages sent to a former House of Delegates colleague back in 2022, Jones fantasized about killing the state’s then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert.
“If those guys die before me… I will go to their funerals to piss on their graves,” Jones, who served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates, wrote in one of the 2022 messages to a former colleague.
“Three people, two bullets,” the nominee continued despite objections from the colleague. “Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot… Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” Jones wrote, adding, “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
He later directed his ire towards Gilbert’s wife and children. “I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they’re breeding little fascists? Yes,” he went on.
The disturbing messages sent by Jones were initially shared with the ‘National Review’
The scandal went on to become a defining focal point of the race, leading to a massive polling boost for Miyares and widespread projections that he would win. A number of last-minute polls found Jones leading or the race tied, however, which proved to be the case.
A disturbing exit poll from Fox News found that just 46 percent of Virginia voters thought Jones’ messages were disqualifying. An additional 25 percent said the messages were concerning, but not disqualifying, while an additional 17 percent of voters said they had not heard enough about the scandal to have an opinion.
In perhaps the most disturbing nugget from the exit poll, 10 percent of respondents said the messages were “not concerning.”
Jones initially attempted to sidestep the issue and later apologized after backlash, though he largely attempted to dismiss the scandal in favor of attacking President Donald Trump throughout the campaign.
“And I will also say this. I was held accountable by my party, and I deeply, deeply respect that. But what about when Donald Trump used incendiary language to incite a riot to try to overturn an election here in this country? What about when Winsome Sears used violent language about people who disagree with you and her and your extreme position on abortion?” he said when asked about the messages during the lone debate between the two candidates.
Jones’ win comes as part of a wider Republican wipeout in Virginia, which saw gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears defeated by double digits and multiple flips in GOP-controlled House of Delegates races.
