Bar Complaints Pile Up Against Jay Jones Over Violent Texts Against GOP Lawmakers
National Legal and Policy Center says Jones should lose law license for ‘outrageous, violent rhetoric’
Andrew Kerr
October 14, 2025
Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones (D.) should be stripped of his license to practice law, a government watchdog group charged in a complaint Tuesday with the Virginia State Bar (VSB), the third such petition filed since the release of text messages showing Jones fantasizing about killing a GOP lawmaker and wishing for the death of that lawmaker’s child.
The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) said Jones violated the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct, which require attorneys to demonstrate respect for public officials in their professional and personal affairs, when he sent text messages in 2022 to Virginia state delegate Carrie Coyner (R.) saying then-speaker of the state house, Todd Gilbert (R.), should get "two bullets to the head," and that he would like to "piss on the graves" of his Republican colleagues over policy disagreements. Later, during a phone call with Coyner, Jones said he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her own children die to spur her husband to change his political views.
"Jay Jones should be disbarred for his outrageous, violent rhetoric," NLPC counsel Paul Kamenar told the Washington Free Beacon. "And even if he should be elected attorney general, he would be prohibited from carrying out his legal duties if he were disbarred or his license suspended. At a minimum, he would be under a cloud of an adverse disciplinary investigation by the Virginia State Bar."
The watchdog group’s complaint comes as Jones’s campaign to replace incumbent attorney general Jason Miyares (R.) continues to implode in the fallout of a National Review report exposing his violent text messages. Jones once held a comfortable polling lead over Miyares, but is now trailing his Republican opponent and dragging his Democratic ally, gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger, down with him, the Free Beacon reported. Spanberger, who is clinging onto a razor-thin lead over her Republican opponent, Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, refused to disavow Jones during a debate Thursday but continues to sell campaign apparel promoting Jones.
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https://freebeacon.com/democrats/bar-complaints-pile-up-against-jay-jones-over-violent-texts-against-gop-lawmakers/
