Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones, shown here during a campaign stop in Petersburg on Oct. 2, 2025, said in a statement that he has reached out to former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert over text messages he sent three years ago about shooting him.

President Donald Trump called on Democratic Virginia attorney general candidate Jay Jones to drop out of the race after reported texts by Jones in 2022 suggesting a former Virginia House speaker should receive "two bullets to the head" were made public.

"It has just come out that the Radical Left Lunatic, Jay Jones, who is running against Jason Miyares, the GREAT Attorney General in Virginia, made SICK and DEMENTED jokes, if they were jokes at all, which were not funny," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 5. "Even Democrats are saying it is 'RESIGNATION FROM CAMPAIGN' TERRITORY."

Trump added that Jones should drop out of the race "immediately" and endorsed Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in the process.

Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner shared reported screenshots of her Aug. 8, 2022, conversation with Jones in which he admitted they were sent to her in error. In an email to The Progress-Index, part of the USA TODAY Network, Coyner called the messages "not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office.

"Jay Jones wished violence on the children of a colleague and joked about shooting (former Speaker) Todd Gilbert. It's disgusting and unbecoming of any public official," Coyner said in a statement.

The messages, first reported by conservative-leaning media outlet National Review, come after a poll conducted in the days following Charlie Kirk’s assassination found that most Americans believe brash political rhetoric is contributing to violence.. Other plots and threats have targeted Democrats, including a fire set at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s house, a kidnapping plot against Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and a man who broke into the home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to attack her husband with a hammer.

What did the messages reportedly say?

According to the screenshots of the text, Jones was apparently upset by comments attributed to Gilbert on the death of a Democratic delegate. Jones accused the delegate of leaking information about Virginia House Democrats to the House Republican Caucus.

He initially apologized to Coyner for sending the message to her in error, but then launched into a rant where he compared Gilbert to former world dictators Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot. He reportedly mentioned how he would have loved to shoot all three of them.

"Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot," he texted. "Gilbert gets two bullets to the head."

Jones acknowledged in a statement from his campaign that "like all people, I've sent text messages that I regret." He reiterated that "violent rhetoric has no place in our politics." He accused Republican incumbent Jason Miyarres of "dropping smears" through a media outlet favorable to Trump and Republicans.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger released a statement, saying she spoke "frankly" with Jones about the messages.

"After learning of these comments earlier today, I spoke frankly with Jay about my disgust with what he had said and texted," she said. "I made clear to Jay that he must fully take responsibility for his words. What I have also made clear is that as a candidate — and as the next governor of our commonwealth, I will always condemn violent language in our politics."

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal

Contributing: Sudiksha Kochi and Bart Jansen, USA TODAY; Bill Atkinson, Petersburg Progress-Index

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump urges Democratic attorney general candidate Jay Jones to drop out of the race

Reporting by Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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