Tonight Was About One Guy
It’s a brutal night for Republicans across the country. Democrat Abigail Spanberger is the Governor-Elect of Virginia. Democrat Mikie Sherill is the Governor-Elect of New Jersey. Democrats held three State Supreme Court judgeships in Pennsylvania in a retention election. Democrats upset two Republican incumbents in a statewide election for the Georgia Public Service Commission.
But this result is the most damning one of all.
Democrat Jay Jones was elected Attorney General of Virginia over incumbent Republican Jason Miyares. Yes, this Jay Jones.
Virginia’s Democratic candidate for attorney general Jay Jones is facing widespread criticism for text messages he sent in 2022 suggesting a colleague should be shot.
In a private exchange between Jones and Republican Virginia Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones griped about how the then Republican speaker of the House of Delegates Todd Gilbert was paying tribute to a former moderate Democratic lawmaker who died, according to screenshots of text messages obtained by CNN.
“Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, hitler, and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” the text reads in part, referring to Gilbert and the two dictators.
How Jay Jones can be trusted as Virginia’s Attorney General after saying such hateful, sinful things is a question Virginia is going to have to deal with going forward.
But that Jay Jones won in the first place is a damning indictment not of Jason Miyraes, but of this guy.
Virginia voters appear to have had it with Donald Trump, and, with Trump not on the ballot this year, they took it out on every statewide candidate.
So much for this claim….
Spanberger winning is understandable. Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears was a terrible candidate and ran a terrible campaign. Democrat Ghazala Hashmi’s win as Lt. Governor makes sense. Republican John Reid had some, shall we say, baggage. These Democratic wins are understandable, even in a vacuum.
But the Jay Jones victory is unconscionable, even in these circumstances. Yet, with the backdrop of Trump, the 35th day of the Government shutdown, and the effects of DOGE rippling across government and contractor workers alike, enough voters decided to roll the dice and elect the Democrat anyway.
Republicans can learn a lesson tonight. Republicans could begin to see the light tonight. But if they haven’t seen it yet, I don’t think even this can persuade them. Either way, the cause of tonight’s Republican results across the country boils down to one guy: Donald John Trump. The buck stops with him.