Jay Jones’s bid for Virginia Attorney General has always carried more drama than a courtroom soap opera, but the latest revelations make the whole sordid production look dangerously unhinged.
The texts — the ones that fantasize about shooting a fellow elected official, wishing unspeakable harm on his children, and then boasting about desecration — aren’t the fever dreams of a frustrated citizen. These were sent by a man who wants to be the commonwealth’s top law enforcement officer. That reality ought to trouble every voter, regardless of party.
The nonprofit Center to Advance Security in America has filed a 2nd bar complaint against Jay Jones over the texting scandal — this time, D.C., where he briefly served as assistant AG years ago & is still active and in good standing with the D.C. barhttps://t.co/yJIAciJqS1
— Audrey Fahlberg (@AudreyFahlberg) October 14, 2025
The facts that have surfaced are grotesque enough on their own. According to reporting, Jones’s messages contained violent rhetoric and threats so shocking they would invite immediate criminal complaints or at least public repudiation if they had come from a private citizen.
Yet because Jones is the Democratic nominee for attorney general, the responses have been muted, measured, and riddled with partisan excuses. Now the Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) has escalated the matter, filing a second bar complaint — this time in Washington, D.C., where Jones once held a post as an assistant attorney general. CASA isn’t asking for a political circus. It’s asking a professional body to evaluate whether someone who publicly fantasizes about murder should keep the legal keys to the courthouse.
There’s a straightforward ethical question at the heart of this: can someone who expresses a gleeful desire for violence credibly swear to uphold the law? Lawyers swear oaths to the constitution, to justice, and to public safety. The bar is not a political badge; it is a professional standard meant to protect the public. If expressing a desire to see an opponent’s children killed doesn’t raise serious disciplinary concerns, what does?
Here’s the Center to Advance Security in America complaint to the D.C. Bar against Jay Jones:https://t.co/kvWoDHkuqe
— Audrey Fahlberg (@AudreyFahlberg) October 14, 2025
The optics are worse than the rhetoric. Imagine, for a moment, that the texts had been attributed to a Republican. The outrage would be instantaneous, total, and unforgiving. Mainstream outlets would lead with condemnations, rivals would call for withdrawal, and party leaders would be tripping over themselves to disavow.
Instead, the response has been a study in selective tolerance: a shrug here, a statement of vague regret there, and a campaign that refuses to crack. That double standard corrodes public trust more surely than any viral message ever could.
CASA’s filings in both Virginia and D.C. are not partisan theater. They’re an attempt to force institutions designed to police professional conduct to do their job. If the bar concludes Jones’s communications cross the line from intemperate politics into professional misconduct, then the consequences should follow. If not, voters still have a right to ask if they want someone with that temperament enforcing the law for everyone else.
