Elect Jay Jones, Attorney General

Despite Jay Jones’ recently surfaced, hyperbolic text messaging from three years ago, for which he has apologized, he is still, by far, the better candidate for Attorney General. He is better qualified and more focused on serving Virginia than his opponent, MAGA Miyares.

What will Jones’ priorities be as Attorney General? Well, this past August, Democratic candidate Jay Jones joined Congressman Eugene Vindman (VA-07) to host a discussion with veterans focused on the impacts of President Trump’s cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs. After listening to veterans describe their difficulties getting the healthcare that they had earned, Jones responded that he will strengthen and defend veterans’ access to affordable, quality healthcare in the VA system and across the Commonwealth. Jones noted that, “The role [of the Attorney General] is to protect our values, ideals, resources, and institutions. Seeing leaders pick and choose when they want to step up is unacceptable in these challenging times, especially when we have people who desperately need health care and support services. My job will be to get those services for you. You have my word, as your Attorney General, I’ll fight every day to make sure that gets done.”

On the everyday effects of Trump’s reckless policies, Jones said, “You’re seeing the impact of the chaos and craziness that these policies have on regular people. We’re talking about people’s livelihoods, and to have Attorney General Jason Miyares

not step up and fight back to protect the resources, values, and ideals we live up to is deeply disappointing.”

Jay Jones has expressed his disappointment with Miyares’ failure to stand up for Virginians: “We don’t have an AG who will fight for us, put Virginia first, and sue to get those funds. Other Democratic attorneys general across the country are doing that, and those states get those resources, but we have been left behind.” (because Miyares stands with Trump and not with the people of Virginia).

In contrast, while a White House memo says “furloughed federal workers aren’t guaranteed compensation for their forced time off during the government shutdown,” AG Jason Miyares continues to do nothing to protect Virginia’s federal workforce. The memo comes just days after Trump met with top advisor and Project 2025 author Russ Vought to “seize on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce and punish detractors,”  Miyares has had no comment while he continues to support Trump. 

Miyares’ policy positions will be far more damaging to Virginians than ill-crafted text messages. GOP ad campaigns have heavily focused on Jones’ old texts, comments he has since both taken responsibility for and apologized for. This campaign would be better focused on what each candidate plans for Virginia's future. While Jones intends to stand up for Virginians, Miyares continues to stand up only for Trump. On October 17th, well after the news of these text messages had been released, a broad coalition of progressive groups reaffirmed their support for Jay Jones as Attorney General, noting that he remains the stronger candidate.

Miyares continues to refuse to stand up for Virginia’s 300,000 federal workers, as thousands have been furloughed and others are forced to work without pay. These federal employees are our neighbors and friends. They deserve to be paid for their work, including back pay. They are the backbone of our local economy, yet Miyares has voiced zero concern or support for DOGE-fired government employees or for those federal workers recently furloughed during the shutdown Reduction in Forces; all of which resulted, incidentally, from the GOP refusal to fund health care. 

Miyares also failed to protect Virginians from Trump’s Medicaid cuts that are gutting healthcare access in rural communities. Miyares has not objected to Trump’s illegal tariffs, either, leaving Virginians to suffer higher costs while other states fight back. These actions have seriously harmed government efficiency and effectiveness, while also crushing many, many Virginia families, but Miyares apparently does not care.

To protect the legal rights of all of the residents of Virginia, we must join together and work to elect Jay Jones as Attorney General on November 4, 2025. Use the following link to see where you can vote early, in-person for Jay Jones for Attorney General https://www.elections.virginia.gov/casting-a-ballot/early-voting-office-locations/. Make your plan now to help your friends and neighbors turn out in record numbers this fall.