Democrat Jay Jones wins Virginia AG race amid controversy

Democrat Jay Jones was elected Virginia attorney general on Tuesday, defeating Republican incumbent Jason Miyares in a close race that drew intense scrutiny after resurfaced text messages and questions about Jones’s past conduct dominated the closing weeks of the campaign. The victory, projected on election night, caps a competitive contest decided by narrow margins and follows a broader Democratic sweep of statewide offices.

The contest tightened after publication of a series of 2022 text messages in which Jones wrote that then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert deserved to be shot and suggested Gilbert’s children should suffer to change his views. Jones apologized publicly, saying he was remorseful and that “that language has no place in our discourse.” The messages prompted bipartisan criticism and became a focal point of advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts in the campaign’s final days. Republicans distributed stickers and ads calling attention to the remarks and to other controversies involving Jones.

Jones also faced scrutiny over a 116 mile-per-hour reckless driving arrest and the handling of 1,000 hours of community service he said he completed, with some of that time...