Glenn Youngkin Blasts Virginia AG-Elect Jay Jones After Election Win

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin isn’t staying silent after Tuesday’s election handed the Attorney General’s office to a Democrat plagued by scandal. In a forceful statement Wednesday, Youngkin condemned Attorney General-elect Jay Jones, calling into question his fitness for office over disturbing text messages that resurfaced during the campaign messages that advocated political assassination and the death of a child.

“I am incredibly concerned about the Attorney General-elect’s ability to do the job,” Youngkin said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “They were abhorrent … you can’t come into this job if you are espousing death on a political enemy, the death of children, and the death of law enforcement.”

Jones, who secured the seat despite the controversy, was exposed for having sent messages three years ago fantasizing about murdering then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican, and forcing Gilbert and his wife to watch the death of one of their children. These weren’t off-color jokes or juvenile remarks they were graphic threats of political violence.

And yet, the Democratic Party stood by him.

Despite the deeply disturbing revelations, Jones continued his campaign with minimal pushback from party leaders. Even Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger, who will soon succeed Youngkin, issued a lukewarm condemnation of the messages but refused to call on Jones to drop out of the race.

Youngkin didn’t mince words about what that tolerance signals:

“There is absolutely no excuse for what he wrote. None. And we live in a society today that I think has lost its way, at least some folks have, on their willingness to almost accept violence and political violence as a solution.”

This is the new face of Democratic leadership in Virginia: an attorney general-elect who made death threats and a governor-elect who chose political power over principle. And let’s not forget, law enforcement across the state will now have to work under someone who once publicly suggested they should die.

Youngkin also emphasized the chilling impact this will have on public trust:

• Law enforcement morale will be under siege, with officers expected to operate under a man who once wished them dead.

• Parents will question whether their families are truly safe in a state run by officials who have normalized calls for violence.

• Political opponents now face a culture where threats are tolerated so long as they come from the left.

And all of this comes as Republicans like Winsome Earle-Sears who ran a clean and principled campaign for governor were narrowly defeated in an election that has only further highlighted the double standards in political accountability.

The truth is, if a Republican candidate had ever typed the words Jay Jones did, his career would have ended instantly. But in today’s Democrat Party, extremism gets a pass if it aligns with their political goals.

Youngkin’s term may be nearing its end, but his message is clear: the fight for integrity, accountability, and public safety in Virginia is far from over.

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