Attorney general candidate Jay Jones vows to protect Virginians

Jay Jones, a Democratic candidate for Virginia attorney general, promises to fight back against policies from President Trump and “co-President Elon Musk” that hurt Virginians.

“The chaos in Washington has to be stopped,” Jones told residents at a meet-and-greet in Bailey’s Crossroads on March 16.

So many people across Virginia are scared about losing Social Security and Medicaid benefits and losing their jobs, Jones said. “The way to fight back is to get rid of Jason Miyares,” Virginia’s Republican attorney general.

“Jason Miyares hasn’t done his job for the past three years,” Jones said. “He’s supposed to work for us, protect us, keep us safe. He has not done that. His client is Donald Trump.”

Jones, an attorney in Norfolk, served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2021. More recently, he was assistant attorney general for the District of Columbia, where he went after slumlords and a ghost gun manufacturer.

Jones is running in the Democratic Primary on June 17 against Shannon Taylor, the commonwealth’s attorney for Henrico County.

Miyares is running for re-election, and so far, doesn’t have a primary opponent.

Jones said the attorney general’s office is supposed to be about consumer protection. Miyares should be going after companies that are inflating prices, landlords that are overcharging for rent, and big pharmaceutical companies that are making huge profits by overcharging for prescription drugs, he said.

Miyares has refused to join 21 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration for illegally attempting to dismantle the Department of Education. He has also refused to join other lawsuits against Trump’s mass firing of probationary federal employees, Trump’s freeze of federal funds for critical programs, and allowing Musk to access sensitive Treasury Department data.

“Elon Musk is coming to Virginia,” Jones said. “If you don’t think he’s going to get involved in these state races, dream on. It is happening in Wisconsin, where he is putting tons of money into Supreme Court seats.”

To attract people who voted for Trump or didn’t vote at all, Jones said Democrats need to listen to voters and find common ground on fundamental issues that both rural and urban voters can support, such as healthcare and children’s safety.

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