Padraic Wasinger ’28 is double majoring in economics and Russian language and literature. On campus he is involved with Club Rowing and Club Triathlon.
The views expressed in the article are the author’s own.
Bringing the national conversation around political violence to Virginia is the Democratic candidate for attorney general: Jay Jones. I encourage everyone to see firsthand the texts where Jones spells out his fantasy of violence against his colleague and of death for his colleague’s children. Justifiable, according to him, because violence motivates a change in politics. The revelations continue to build with another allegation by a fellow lawmaker.
According to Delegate Carrie Coyner, Jones allegedly said in 2020, “Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people,” referring to police officers dying in the line of duty. Jones vehemently denies this claim.
Jay Jones’ standards are clear. He would never try to solve social issues by encouraging police deaths. Leveraging the death of his political opponents’ children, however, remains a viable tool for advancing his agenda.
By not stepping down from this race, he is demonstrating his ignorance and is missing the political moment. At a time when half the country is still reeling from the loss of Charlie Kirk, and when assassins are emboldened to target elected officials — this is when Jones decides to take a stand for violence?
His statements will follow him through any office, affirm aspiring assassins, destroy his working relationship with Republicans and bring political violence to our backyard. If he ever enters the office of the Attorney General, this scandal will hang as an albatross around his neck.
Republicans across the country seized the moment to demand he drop out. Similarly, the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police has called for his exit from the race. However, Virginia Democrats are showing a lack of principle in this regard. Recently, Abigail Spanberger rightfully noted, in reference to Charlie Kirk and Melissa Hortman, that “the vilification and the anger felt towards those who disagree with us can sometimes have dire and horrible and fatal consequences.”
Spanberger said this, of course, before faced with a Democrat candidate who vilifies those who disagree with him. In neither withdrawing her support, nor calling for him to drop out, Spanberger has deprived her prior statement of its meaning and proved her hypocrisy. Jones’ website states that, as attorney general, he will ensure the “Commonwealth embraces every family — no matter who you are or where you come from.” His remarks about his political opponents warrant an addendum: unless you come from across the aisle, in which case, I will piss on your grave. To make such a statement publicly, however, would spell the end of any campaign.
