Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia told “Fox and Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade Monday that he initially thought someone was playing a joke when he heard about violent texts from Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones of Virginia.
Jones texted about shooting then-Virginia House of Delegates Speaker Todd Gilbert in an exchange with Republican Del. Carrie Coyner of Virginia in 2022, drawing calls for Jones to exit the race. Youngkin said that the content of the messages and a later phone call in which Jones wished for Gilbert’s children to die was “beyond belief.”
“I thought… this was a joke, because no one could write this, this is demented and here we have the Democrat candidate running for attorney general, the top cop in Virginia, wishing not only that he had two bullets to put in a guy’s head, but then wishes death on his children,” Youngkin said. “Todd Gilbert has small kids and for Jay Jones to wish death on his small children is beyond belief, but that is where the violent left of the Democrat Party is. This is where these folks are.”
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“We had Charlie Kirk assassinated and so many folks celebrated on the far left. We’ve had two Democrats threaten to murder two of our delegates running for office in Virginia and now Jay Jones comes out and says he has two bullets for Todd Gilbert’s head and wants to see his children die,” Youngkin continued. “This is unbelievable, and what’s shocking also is that after calling for the normal apology, the Democrat candidates, Abigail Spanberger and the rest of them were out campaigning this weekend like it was nothing. They have got to call for this guy to resign, step down, get out of this race in disgrace, because this is beyond disqualifying.”
Celebrations of the assassination or comments that mocked or justified the killing of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk took place in various social media venues, especially on platforms like BlueSky, leading to numerous people, including MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd and Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, being fired over their reactions to the fatal shooting.
Jones previously came under fire after it was reported that he claimed that he fulfilled community service requirements for a reckless driving conviction by working for his political action committee.
An April survey by Rutgers University and the Network Contagion Research Institute showing 56% of “left-of-center” respondents saying that assassinating President Donald Trump, who survived two attempts on his life during the 2024 presidential campaign, would be at least partially justifiable. Similar percentages said the same thing about Tesla CEO Elon Musk in the survey.
The texts by Jones resurfaced as riots took place at United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
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