Spanberger for governor, but Jay Jones must drop out of the race for AG

The Virginia Democrat's sensible centrism shows a way forward for her party, but there is a big problem at the bottom of the statewide ticket.

Updating to recast penultimate graf

At a time when Americans crave sanity in government, the Democratic ticket in Virginia features a stark contrast between mature leadership and the incendiary rhetoric that is poisoning our politics.

Former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger earned a record on Capitol Hill as a capable, responsible centrist who challenged extremists on the right and eschewed radical elements in her own party. A former CIA case officer, Spanberger demonstrated her ability to appeal across the partisan divide when she defeated conservative Republican Dave Brat in 2018 in a Republican-leaning district outside of Richmond.

In this year’s gubernatorial race, Spanberger holds a sizable lead over her Republican challenger, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll released Friday.

If that lead holds, Spanberger is poised to deliver an early — and welcome —rebuke to the dangerous and venomous conduct of President Donald Trump, which could foreshadow a winning formula for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. She deserves to be elected governor.

And then there is Jerrauld “Jay” Jones, the Democratic candidate for attorney general.

The Post-Schar poll shows him with a six-point lead over Republican incumbent Jayson Miyares. But the poll was conducted before revelations Friday that Jones had sent disturbing text messages in 2022 that, among other things, talked about shooting Todd Gilbert, then the Republican Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and urinating on the graves of GOP lawmakers.

The text messages, first reported by National Review, would be indefensible at any time. But they are especially abhorrent now as Americans struggle to walk back from the escalating climate of violence sweeping over our political discourse.

The messages were apparently intended for an ally but sent mistakenly to a Republican. In one, Jones wrote:

“Three people, two bullets

Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot

Gilbert gets two bullets to the head”

To her credit, Spanberger quickly and strongly condemned Jones’s text messages.

“After learning of these comments earlier today,” she said in a statement issued Friday, “I spoke frankly with Jay about what he had said and texted. I made clear to Jay that he must take responsibility for his words. What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next Governor of the Commonwealth — I will always condemn violent language in our politics.”

Jones initially offered a heavily qualified statement of regret for the messages that attempted to shift the blame to Miyares supporters for leaking them. That was obviously inadequate, and he issued an abject apology later in the day. “Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry,” Jones said in a statement quoted in a Post editorial on the controversy.

I’m sure he is, now that these messages have been revealed. But profuse apologies and statements about regret — no matter how sincere — aren’t enough.

We cannot have politicians — no matter their party — spewing toxic rhetoric about their opponents — in public, as Trump does with some frequency — or in private, as Jones did. There is simply no legitimate place for this kind of language, and any politician who indulges in it deserves public condemnation.

A Spanberger victory in the fall would represent a rejection of Trump’s divisive and dangerous rhetoric. She projects responsibility. As for Jones, the most responsible thing he can do now is quit the race.