Questions rise around ballots as Jay Jones faces increasing pressure to withdraw

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - Attorney General Jason Miyares’ campaign is already rolling out ads focusing on Democratic nominee Jay Jones’ recently released texts from years ago. The move comes as Jones is facing increasing pressure to step down.

The controversy started Friday when National Review reported Jones sent messages to Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner in 2022 saying he’d shoot then House Speaker Todd Gilbert.

The story also says Jones called Coyner and wished harm on Gilbert’s kids.

While Jones has apologized, lawmakers from both parties are condemning his actions, and now some are calling for him to step down.

This weekend, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance joined those voices.

“It is difficult to see how Jones does not become the number one issue for the remaining month of the campaign. If he isn’t gone, this is going to go on day after day after day,” Larry Sabato with the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics said. “The stakes are now larger than Virginia. This is a national issue. It is a national problem for Democrats, and they don’t need another problem.”

It is unclear what the election process would look like if Jones were to step down. Virginia code says ‘should the nominee of any party die, withdraw, or have his nomination set aside for any reason, the party may nominate to fill the vacancy in accordance with its own rules.’

However, Va. Code § 24.2-541 states that a candidate withdrawal must be received at least 60 days before an election for the replacement nominee to either be printed on the ballot or placed on a separate ballot in the event ballots are already printed.

Since the election is less than a month out, if Jones withdraws now, a replacement nominee will most likely not be printed on the ballot.

Slips of paper would then be handed out to every in-person voter and included in mail-in and absentee ballots stating the change, even though the withdrawn candidate would be on the ballot.

The Virginia Department of Elections tells 12 On Your Side, ‘any votes received by the withdrawn candidate would still be reported with election results, but would not count toward the results of the election, since the person would no longer be a qualified candidate.’

Parts of the code were created before early voting became as popular as it is today.

“The details are going to be messy because this is unprecedented, and people are going to have to be flexible about that. So, it isn’t clear what can be done. You can certainly put notices up at the polls, and other states have done that in similar circumstances when there’s been a change in candidacy,” Sabato said.

Despite the uncertainty right now, Richmond’s Office of Elections was still full of people voting early Monday. As of around lunch time, about 100 people had already voted that day alone.

“We don’t really have a whole lot of options when it comes to our candidates, but it didn’t really change my mind on who I wanted to vote for and I think that in the political climate we’re in right now, a lot of people can be very nitpicky about things that have happened in the past,” Richmond voter Rendha Maharosa.

For Maharosa, voting early was still important to her as she understood the importance of casting her ballot.

She said she aligns with the Democratic party and does not believe Jones will drop out at this time, given that other candidates have stayed in races after different issues came to light recently.

“I think that maybe putting this scandal at the forefront shouldn’t be important. Just really focusing on what candidates align with your morals and values and how you want to see these candidates really play a role in your community is the most important part,” she said.

Others say the scandal affirmed their decision even more. Ben and Teresa Alvarez said they were always going to vote early, but the Jones messages pushed them to do it on Monday.

“We weren’t going to vote for anyone with that kind of a background or that kind of patience, and he probably draws us out to vote more than anything, opportunity not to see him in office,” Ben Alvarez said.

“We had strong feelings about those comments,” Teresa Alvarez said.

Miyares’ team is now putting $1.5 million into television advertisements that will air starting on Monday, Oct. 6, highlighting Jones’ text messages.

Jones and his campaign team did not respond to a request for an interview.

Neither Abigail Spanberger’s team nor Ghazala Hashmi’s team answered 12 On Your Side’s request for comment on whether Jones should drop out.