Jay Jones scandal shakes up Virginia's attorney general race

VIRGINIA - Virginia’s attorney general race continues to make headlines nationwide as Democratic candidate Jay Jones tries to recover from a text message scandal. 

Newly published private messages reveal he once mused about shooting a Republican lawmaker.  

What we know:

It’s a contentious race, but as much as Jones’ campaign surely would like it to this story and scandal, it isn’t going anywhere. It’s only picked up steam as Republicans try to use these texts to help them win in November. 

Jones, though, isn't giving up or dropping out. He was mingling with voters just Wednesday morning. He posed for pictures, smiling with supporters early voting. 

But behind the scenes – his campaign remains in crisis.

"It’s just disgraceful. The whole thing is just disgraceful," political analyst and Director of the Center For Politics Larry Sabato told FOX 5. 

On Friday, the National Review published texts from Jones, sent to a Republican lawmaker back in 2022. 

In the messages, the Democratic nominee for Virginia's attorney general commented about former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, saying, "three people two bullets…Gilbert, Hitler, and Polpot…Gilbert gets two bullets to the head."

"Unmitigated stupidity," Sabato said. "Absolutely inexcusable and deeply disturbing." 

Dig deeper:

Sabato said Jones’ texts could hurt his chances in what’s already an extremely tight race. 

"This alone certainly will not defeat the democratic ticket as a whole – it may be enough to defeat Jay Jones," Sabato said, "Because Republicans are hopping mad about this, and when a party is angry, turnout goes up, their turnout goes up." 

Axios reports that Jones has canceled a fundraising event scheduled for Thursday night.

He’s not held a public event since the messages were shared.

Expert opinions:

Peter Loge, Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, and Director of the Project on Ethics in Political Communication with George Washington University, who’s led and advised a number of campaigns, suspects the scandal will affect some turnout and encourage some voters to skip the race all together, but is skeptical of how many Virginians who planned to vote for Jones will now cast a ballot for sitting attorney general Jason Miyares.

"The people who don’t vote in the election can impact the outcome of the election as much as people who do," Loge said. "Most people will go to pretty great lengths to justify who they’re going to vote for, even if that person has done some pretty awful things."

Jones’ campaign has not responded to FOX 5’s request for an interview.

but in a statement, he said in part: "I take full responsibility for my actions, and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family. Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed, and sorry."

"Now it’s up to the voters to decide if that is enough," Loge said. 

Sabato said this story should be a lesson for all parties that, in this day in age, they need to do opposition research on their own candidates.

Election day is Nov. 4.