Republican Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears slammed her Democratic gubernatorial opponent Abigail Spanberger Tuesday in a scathing ad centered on Spanberger’s refusal to call for embattled Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones to drop out of the race.
The ad, titled “two bullets,” was released the same day the scandal over the disturbing text messages sent by Jones reportedly forced the AG candidate to bow out of a fundraising event.
“Jay Jones says he wants to put two bullets in a political opponent,” says the narrator of Earle-Sears’ latest campaign ad, according to Fox News.
In a new ad released Tuesday, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears lambasted gubernatorial opponent Abigail Spanberger as the Democrat declined to explicitly call for her party’s attorney general nominee to bow out of his race as his controversial texts scandal unravels. APRepublican Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears slammed her Democratic gubernatorial opponent Abigail Spanberger Tuesday in a scathing ad centered on Spanberger’s refusal to call for embattled Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones to drop out of the race.
The ad, titled “two bullets,” was released the same day the scandal over the disturbing text messages sent by Jones reportedly forced the AG candidate to bow out of a fundraising event.
“Jay Jones says he wants to put two bullets in a political opponent,” says the narrator of Earle-Sears’ latest campaign ad, according to Fox News.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger speaks to a crowd on the first day of early voting in Henrico County, Va., Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. AP“Abigail Spanberger: She stands with him, not us,” the narrator says, as the ad concludes.
Jones fantasized about then-Republican state House Speaker Todd Gilbert getting shot in the head in unhinged text messages he sent to Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner in August of 2022, which were unearthed last week by National Review.
At one point during his back-and-forth with Coyner, Jones cruelly hoped that the former speaker’s wife could watch her children die, to change Gilbert’s political views, the outlet reported.
Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones during a campaign stop in Petersburg Oct. 2, 2025. Bill Atkinson/progress-index.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesOn Monday, Coyner alleged in an interview with the Virginia Scope that Jones made similarly vile remarks in 2020, about police officers.
“Well, maybe if a few of them died, that they would move on, not shooting people, not killing people,” Jones allegedly told Coyner during a conversation about qualified immunity.
Jones has denied Coyner’s claim.
The Democratic AG, however, has admitted to sending the texts about Gilbert to Coyner.
Spanberger and most prominent Democrats have not called on Jones to withdraw from the AG race, where early voting is already underway.
“Abigail has and will continue to condemn comments that attempt to make light of or justify violence of any kind — full stop,” a Spanberger spokesperson told Fox News. “Abigail has a long record of working across party lines and ideologies to get things done, and she will continue to bring people together as Virginia’s next governor.”
Jones has faced calls to drop out from several Republicans, including President Trump and Vice President JD Vance, and Virginia’s Fraternal Order of Police – which deemed him “unfit for the office of Attorney General of Virginia” in light of his comments about Gilbert.
The Jones campaign, reportedly in crisis mode, scrubbed a Tuesday night fundraiser that was to be held at the home of suspense novelist David Baldacci, according to Axios.
Polling prior to the Jones text scandal showed the Democrat leading GOP incumbent Jason Miyares by 6 points in the attorney general race, while Spanberger was ahead of Earle-Sears by 10 points, according to the Christopher Newport University survey.
