Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin called on embattled attorney general hopeful Jay Jones to drop out of the race after disturbing texts revealed him fantasizing about a GOP lawmaker getting shot twice in the head.
The Republican governor tore into the Democrat nominee for Virginia’s top law enforcement post after a string of “violent” and “disgusting” text messages from 2022 surfaced showing him wishing the state’s then-House Speaker Todd Gilbert and his children would be gunned down.
“This violent, disgusting rhetoric targeted at an elected official and his children is beyond disqualifying,” Youngkin said on X Saturday morning.
“Jay Jones said that ‘Gilbert gets two bullets to the head’ and then hoped his children would die. Read those words again. There is no ‘gosh, I’m sorry’ here. Jones doesn’t have the morality or character to drop out of this race.”
He then fumed that Jones’ running mates – and every elected Democrat in the Old Dominion state – lacked the courage to demand the scandal-plagued candidate “step away from his campaign in disgrace.”
The messages – first reported by National Review and later obtained by The Post – were sent by Jones on Aug. 8, 2022, to Republican Delegate Carrie Coyner, who was seemingly shaken by their sinister tone.
“Three people, two bullets,” read a text from Jones, a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
“Gilbert, Hitler, and pol pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head. Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”
Coyner wrote back asking her twisted colleague to “please stop,” adding that it bothers her when he talks about “hurting people” or “wishing death on them,” suggesting a pattern of troubling behavior.
Jones then doubled down, saying he wished Gilbert’s wife could watch her “little fascists” children die, claiming it would change the former House speaker’s political views, according to National Review.
“I take full responsibility for my actions, and I want to issue my deepest apology to Speaker Gilbert and his family,” the warped candidate, who is challenging incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares in the Nov. 4 election, told WRIC in a statement on Friday.
“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach. I am embarrassed, ashamed and sorry. I have reached out to Speaker Gilbert to apologize directly to him, his wife Jennifer and their children. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”
The shocking texts mark the second scandal the Democrat has faced this week.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Jones was busted for reckless driving in 2022 – when he was caught flying down a Virginia interstate at 116 mph – but avoided jail time by completing 500 hours of community service with his own political action committee.
Jones did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
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