WATCH: Kaine defends Jones amid AG candidate’s texts envisioning murder of GOP leader: ‘Still a supporter’
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Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine defended his fellow Democrat, former Del. Jay Jones of Norfolk, as the attorney general nominee’s campaign unravels after texts surfaced depicting Jones envisioning the murder of a top state Republican.
Pressed ahead of a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, Kaine said Jones’ comments were “indefensible” but that he is “still a supporter” of his candidacy against incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares.
“Jay has apologized,” Kaine said.
“I’ve known Jay Jones for 25 years,” he said. “I think those statements were not in character, and he has apologized — I wish other people in public life would sincerely apologize for stuff.”
Asked whether Jones’ controversy will affect other Democrats on the ballot, Kaine replied that the situation is a “significant challenge” for Jones but that he doesn’t think it will affect other races.
“I think he’s got to explain it in ways that Virginia can see who he really is,” Kaine added.
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., is at the top of the ticket against Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the governor’s race, and Democratic state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi is facing conservative commentator John Reid for the lieutenant governorship.
Fox News later followed up with Kaine, asking if he definitively does not believe Jones should drop out.
“Yeah, I’ve answered the question correctly, and I don’t think I can improve on the first answer,” Kaine said.
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Jones had, apparently accidentally, texted Virginia Del. Carrie Coyner, R-Chester, a message about then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, venting about Gilbert’s friendship with a recently deceased Democratic Party elder.
The texts first came to light Friday to National Review, and were later confirmed to Fox News Digital through multiple Richmond, Virginia, sources.
Jones had said the late state Sen. Joe Johnson, D-Bristol, “leaked” Democratic goings-on to Gilbert and the GOP caucus, before remarking: “If those guys die before me, I will go to their funerals to p— on their graves. Send them out awash in something.”
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Jones then envisioned that Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, would be shot twice in the head if lined up with Cambodian Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot and former German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and the executioner only had two bullets.
“Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time,” he added.
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He went on to suggest that Gilbert and his wife, Jennifer, were “breeding little fascists.” The Gilberts have two young children.
Since the texts were sent in 2022, Gilbert resigned from the House of Delegates to briefly accept President Donald Trump’s nomination to be the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia based in Roanoke. He has since left that post as well.
The texts came one week after documents from New Kent County showed Jones had been charged with reckless driving on a notorious straight-arrow stretch of Interstate 64 between Virginia’s Williamsburg and Richmond in the middle of the night.
Jones escaped the typical one-year jail sentence by filing 1,000 community service hours split between his own political PAC and the NAACP’s Virginia branch.
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A New Kent County, Virginia, official told Fox News Digital that it was not uncommon to have traffic-related crimes prosecuted with the defendant not receiving jail time during the COVID-19 era amid capacity and spacing concerns for more serious offenders.
Jones is set to face Miyares at the University of Richmond on Oct. 16 for their only debate, at which the firestorm is sure to be a top issue.
Fox News’ Dan Scully contributed to this report.